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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24499645">Star Wars: Episode IX - A Wind to Shake the Stars</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grand_Moff_Titus/pseuds/Grand_Moff_Titus'>Grand_Moff_Titus</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bits of Rise of Skywalker as Well, Duel of the Fates-Based, Gen, Palpatine Does Not Return, Rey is Not a Palpatine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:41:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>26,748</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24499645</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grand_Moff_Titus/pseuds/Grand_Moff_Titus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Duel of the Fates-based.  Troubled by visions of his defeat, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren has gone in search of an ancient dark side power.  In his absence, the Knights of Ren hunt Rey, the last Jedi, as she and the rest of the Resistance attempt to rally the galaxy to their cause.  Meanwhile, a dark presence prepares to return to the galaxy. . . .</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Finn/Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Main Title and the Moon of Kuat</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. . . .</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
<h1>STAR</h1><h1>WARS</h1><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
<h2>EPISODE IX</h2><h2>A WIND TO SHAKE THE STARS</h2><h2>The iron grip of the FIRST ORDER has spread to the furthest reaches of the galaxy.Only a few scattered planets remain unoccupied.Traitorous acts are punishable by death.</h2><h2>Troubled by visions of his defeat, Supreme Leader KYLO REN has gone in search of anancient dark side power.In his absence, The Knights of Ren have been dispatched to hunt REY, the last Jedi.</h2><h2>Determined to suffocate a growing unrest, CHANCELLOR HUX has silenced all communication between neighboring systems.Meanwhile, the Resistance, led by GENERAL LEIA ORGANA, has planned a secret mission to prevent their annihilation and forge a path to freedom. . . .</h2><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
<h2>Chapter One</h2><h2>The Moon of Kuat</h2><p>Stars, seemingly receding to infinity.That was all the small graphite-colored astromech droid could see.If he rolled back just a bit, he would see that he was peering out the transparisteel viewport of a starkly designed shuttle; but if he stayed where he was, he could pretend that he was alone in the inky, star-specked vastnesses of space.</p><p>At the edges of the droid’s vision, two prongs—the sharp points of a space station— drifted into view as the ship coasted into a docking bay.The grand illusion of tranquility was broken.Disappointed, the droid rolled towards the exit of the First Order transport.He had a mission to complete.</p><p>He joined his companions on this journey: other droids, of diverse form and function, brought to work at the Kuat Drive Yards.The boarding ramp descended before them with a hiss of pneumatics.In the press to get out, the gray BB Unit swerved to avoid a hulking Hexadecimal loadlifter and scraped his spherical body against the side wall of the transport.He looked down, examining a new scuff in his paint that revealed a flash of orange beneath the gray.He chirped worriedly, and rolled until the telltale scrape was hidden beneath his domed head.</p><p> </p><p>In a cramped room stacked with scavenged Imperial gear, a small comlink lay on a table.A red light began to blink on its side in response to some signal.A gloved hand grabbed and activated it.</p><p>“BeeBee-Ate, are you in?” asked Rose Tico.</p><p>An affirmative beep came through the communications device.</p><p>“Good,” Rose said, looking through the broken roof of her hideout at the orbital ring hanging high above the surface of the moon of Kuat.First Order Star Destroyers protruded from its rim like vicious teeth poised to crush the galaxy.Beyond, she could pick out the planet Kuat, visible only as a pale bluish-green disc with the metal ribbon of another orbital ring encircling it.“I need eyes on the checkpoint,” she said.</p><p>Inside the orbital ring, BB-8 rolled out of the cavernous docking bay and into a sleek black hallway.He wove through a forest of legs, searching for the right scomp terminal.</p><p>“I hear the T-16s are being phased back in,” said a passing stormtrooper to another walking beside him.</p><p>“Figures,” said his companion.“The T-17s are junk.”</p><p>BB-8 finally found the correct port and plugged his computer uplink arm into the round socket in the middle.He turned his arm back and forth until the system gave him what Rose needed: access to the holomonitor feed of the orbital ring complex.</p><p>On the moon’s surface, Rose strapped on a cracked, beaten leather flight helmet and flipped down the attached electrogoggles.The heads-up display showed a grid of garbled, blurry images that resolved into dozens of live feeds of the interior and exterior of the orbital shipyard.Rose selected and enlarged an image of a security checkpoint with an approaching dropship.</p><p>“Here they come,” she said.</p><p> </p><p>The dropship landed in a canyon of white and blue sedimentary rock, the wind of its passage kicking up a cloud of silver sand.A few stormtroopers shielded their eyes from the harsh sunlight as a batch of migrant workers trudged out of the craft.The stormtroopers motioned the group of downtrodden humans and aliens towards a weapons detector set into a thick border wall. </p><p>Not all of the migrants were submitting to the rule of the First Order in exchange for safety and whatever meagre scraps of food they could be spared, however.Not all of them were even migrants.Among them was stormtrooper-cum-Resistance member Finn, disguised in layers of thin, worn rags.</p><p>“Checkpoint,” whispered Finn.“Keep your head down.”</p><p>The man behind him nodded, his features hidden by a dusty robe and a cloth over the lower part of his face.As the migrants were funneled towards the scanner, a bottleneck quickly formed.Ragged aliens barked at each other in a dozen tongues.An immense, gray-skinned Drovian shoved Finn.</p><p>“Whoa, hey.No trouble here,” said Finn.</p><p>The Drovian was not appeased.It picked Finn up with a single radially symmetrical, three-clawed hand and bared its sharp teeth at him.</p><p>“Trouble. TROUBLE!” shouted Finn.</p><p>The robed man stepped forward and pulled something from a leather pouch under his robe.The Drovian rounded to face the man, whose face covering had slipped to reveal the face of Commander Poe Dameron.The Resistance pilot held out a dried, three-eyed Peckto fish.</p><p>“Here,” he said. “I couldn’t finish it.”</p><p>The Drovian dropped Finn, speared the fish on one of his talons, and munched on it with a contented, nasal bubble.Poe removed his hand from a blaster concealed under his robe.</p><p>“Thanks,” said Finn as he stood up and brushed sand off his rags.</p><p>“Don’t mention it,” Poe said as he pulled his cloth back over his nose.</p><p>The stormtroopers had formed the workers into a queue before the weapons scanner.Finn and Poe walked to the back of the line.</p><p>“How’ll we know if BeeBee-Ate hacked the mainframe?” asked Finn.</p><p>The weapons scanner beeped.Stormtroopers pulled a mangy Gotal out of the line.The alien pleaded for his life, pointing desperately at his metallic horns.Unsympathetic stormtroopers marched him behind a high wall, out of view of the other migrants.The sound of muted blaster fire came from behind it.</p><p>“We’ll know,” Poe said grimly.</p><p>Poe and Finn stepped into the large rectangular detector.As they entered, the machine gave a shudder and shut off.</p><p>“We lost power.Hold the line,” said one of the stormtroopers.Others re-emerged from behind the wall, their blasters smoking.Finn and Poe looked at each other tensely.</p><p>Aboard the orbital ring, BB-8 spun his scomp link.Down the hall, a clumsy stormtrooper dropped a crate of spanners.They clattered noisily on the hard floor.BB-8 nervously spun his dome to face the trooper, then recovered his nerve and concentrated on his task.</p><p>At the security checkpoint, a stormtrooper smacked the console.The scanner powered up again, with Finn and Poe still inside.The alarm did not sound.The Resistance infiltrators let out the breaths they had been holding.</p><p>The stormtrooper waved them forward.“Move along.Move along.”</p><p>Poe and Finn passed through the wall into a vast migrant encampment.It was made up of modular grey housing units painted with colorful geometric and organic symbols from the inhabitants’ home worlds.Workers bustled down the dusty streets and attempted to avoid the gaze of stormtrooper patrols.Small animals prowled around buildings and vaporators.A heavily robed Tusken eyed Finn and Poe as they passed.</p><p>In the distance, a towering powershaft plunged deep into the planet’s core and soared skyward to connect with the orbital ring.Transparisteel panels set inside a scaffolding of metal let out the blue glow of the energy mined here.The power was channeled up through the shaft to fuel the fleet of ships assembled on the ring above.A pair of TIE Fighters screamed past the imposing structure and flew over the worker’s colony.</p><p>Poe locked eyes with a furry alien watching them from a nearby machine shop.The alien, Biss Kova, tapped his cheek.</p><p>“That’s our guy,” Poe said.He and Finn followed their contact into a hut.Inside, a big-cheeked, hairless baby of the same species bounced inside a hanging sea cow stomach.Its mother, Dal Kova, brushed melted fat onto an unappetizing-looking roast.</p><p>Rose emerged from behind a beaded curtain in the back of the hut.“You said six days.I’ve been here six weeks,” she said.</p><p>“We’ve been busy,” said Poe wearily, uncovering his face and pulling down his hood.</p><p>“Besides, this place doesn’t seem so bad,” Finn said, looking around the building curiously.</p><p>“Good people,” Rose responded.“<em>Terrible</em> food.”</p><p>Rose led them back through the curtain to her surveillance den.She unrolled a canvas map on the table and dropped a holoprojector onto it.</p><p>“This is our access point,” she said as the device projected an image of the orbital ring and the powershaft.</p><p>“This powershaft delivers raw ore to the orbital ring,” Rose continued.“A detonation directly into the energy stream, here, will cause a chain reaction—”</p><p>“—and take the whole thing down,” Poe finished.</p><p>Finn looked up at the orbital ring, where a dozen Star Destroyers were refueling.“Along with their new fleet.”</p><p>The baby began to cry.Rose walked back into the main room and shook a rattle at it.</p><p>“How do we know they haven’t detected BeeBee’s signature?” asked Poe as he followed her.“There’s a lot we don’t know.That’s why I voted for the other plan.”</p><p>Finn looked at him.“This is when we second guess the plan? Right now?”</p><p>“We can take out the enemy’s fuel source and be light years away before they know what hit them.But we have to move now,” Rose said as she stuck a finger in the baby’s mouth.The alien gurgled.</p><p>Finn and Poe looked at Rose and the baby, then at each other, then back at Rose.She really had been down here awhile.</p><p>“Okay,” Poe conceded.“Let’s blow this thing and go home.”</p><p>Poe, Finn, and Rose emerged from the hut and moved past migrant workers towards the massive powershaft base.The Tusken wandered past far behind them.</p><p>Poe spoke into a comlink.“BeeBee-Ate?Don’t worry, buddy, I’m alive.Unlock the powershaft doors and get ready with that shuttle.”</p><p>BB-8 gave the terminal one final crank and then detached his scomp link.He sped down the corridor past a viewport that gave a view of the sun cresting the glowing orange and blue surface of the Kuat moon.</p><p>A trio of heavily armored, space-gray mechtroopers guarded the powershaft doors.Poe stunned one with his blaster while Finn and Rose took down the other two with electro-shock prods.Poe unlatched a keycard from the belt of one of the unconscious mechtroopers and threw it to Finn, who swiped it through a slot set in a wall panel.The blast doors slid open.Finn, Poe, and Rose stepped through and looked up at the giant cylinder of blue particle energy rushing upwards.</p><p>Poe took out three dart-like, aerodynamic thermal detonators.“We’ll have twenty seconds before detonation.Give or take.”</p><p>“Give or take how long?” asked Rose.</p><p>Poe grimaced and handed Finn and Rose a detonator each.“Not long enough to be a problem.Just take it nice and easy, like pitching a Pilmetto Stick.”</p><p>Finn said, “We didn’t have that. . .”</p><p>Poe activated his charge.</p><p>“Oh, we’re going now?!” asked Finn incredulously.</p><p>Poe tossed his detonator underhand.It was caught by the particle flow and rocketed upwards.Rose’s charge soon joined it.Finn chucked his like a live grenade and ran for the exit.</p><p>Poe activated his comm.“BeeBee-Ate, bombs are away.We’ll meet you at the relay point.”</p><p>BB-8 warbled a reply as he rolled into the droid socket of a tiny maintenance shuttle, old and forgotten.As he plugged into the ship, it powered up.</p><p>The Resistance fighters ran out the door to find themselves face-to-face with a platoon of stormtroopers and mechtroopers.</p><p>“Drop your weapons!” said one of the troopers.</p><p>Migrant workers craned their necks at the disturbance, trying to see what was happening without getting too close.The masked Tusken lurked among them.</p><p>Poe looked up at the orbital ring and hissed, “Distraction in three, two, one. . .now!”He dove to the ground and rolled, anticipating the explosion.Nothing happened.He halted and looked up at the stormtroopers surrounding them.“Hey, fellas,” he said weakly.</p><p>“Shut up, scum,” one of them responded.</p><p> </p><p>Inside the Kuat Orbital Ring’s command center, a First Order officer holding a datapad rushed up to Admiral Vonn.The Admiral was standing at the command center’s viewport in the textbook Imperial posture: back straight, hands clasped behind him, and legs slightly apart.He turned to look at the officer with piercing blue eyes that complemented his shock of steel-gray hair.</p><p>“Blast shields have contained the explosion, Admiral,” the young officer said.“All systems stable.”</p><p>Vonn turned back to survey the moon of Kuat glowing below, his mouth turned up in a sneer.“Their outdated tactics are pitiful,” he scoffed.</p><p> </p><p>Rose and Finn looked up at the fully intact and operational orbital ring.</p><p>“Any second now,” Poe said, tension audible in his voice.</p><p>Suddenly, the hooded Tusken ran forward. From its gloved hands sprang two beams of bright, searing energy surrounded by light blue halos.The Tusken slashed at the stormtroopers, dual lightsaber cutting through flesh and armor alike.The First Order soldiers turned and fired wildly, but the Tusken weaved and dodged, scything its way through them.Finn, Rose, and Poe ducked and blasted at the troopers.</p><p>Soon, stormtrooper bodies littered the ground.Poe stuck his head and right hand out from behind cover, his blaster pistol smoking.The Tusken pulled off its mask and dropped it on the ground.It was Rey.</p><p>“Rey?” Poe said.</p><p>“Rey! What are you doing here?” asked Finn.</p><p>Rey spun and blocked a blaster bolt with her lightsaber.The weapon was a combination of Rey’s own staff and Anakin’s broken saber.As she moved, the tan Tusken robes fell from her shoulders to reveal a shirt, trousers, and wrappings of pure white.</p><p>“A simple ‘thank you’ would do,” Rey said curtly.</p><p>She threw the lightsaber towards an approaching group of soldiers and ducked behind a power regulator.The spinning blade sliced through everything in its path, then returned to her as she rose to catch it.</p><p>Poe tucked his head down and scrambled behind a generator.“I thought you weren’t coming,” he yelled as he fired on a stormtrooper that was trying to sneak up on him from the far side of the powershaft.“Important Jedi business, I believe you said.”</p><p>“I changed my mind.And I didn’t say that.” Rey shouted over the noise of blaster fire.</p><p>“Well, why didn’t you tell me?Tell us?”</p><p>Finn decided it was time to intercede.“Uh, guys?Now might not be the best time.”</p><p>A blaster shot hit the generator Poe was sheltering behind, leaving behind a smoking black scorch mark.</p><p>“<em>Definitely</em> not the best time,” Poe agreed.</p><p>Rey used the Force to push back a squad of eight stormtroopers, sending them clattering.The migrant workers pointed to Rey in awe, whispering to each other reverentially.</p><p>“Jedi! Jedi!” children cheered.</p><p>More stormtroopers flooded into the square, but the migrants blocked their path.Some threw rocks or swung hammers and work tools.Some stormtroopers fell under their assault, but others began firing into the crowd.</p><p>Poe shouted, “Rey, we gotta go!”</p><p>Rey hesitated. “I have to help them!” she called.</p><p>Troop transports hove into view, emerging from their docking bays beyond the migrant encampment.Behind them, TIE Fighters returning from patrol flew towards the powershaft.</p><p>“Not here.Not now,” Poe said tersely.</p><p>Rey knew he was right, but hated to leave these people.Their behavior was inspiring, a promise of revolution.To abandon them, no doubt to First Order punishment, felt like a betrayal of their faith in her.Nevertheless, she reluctantly followed Poe through the blast doors.</p><p>Finn moved to join them, but a fallen stormtrooper grabbed his ankle.His left eye looked pleadingly at Finn from the wreckage of his blasted, broken helmet.Finn felt a shock of recognition.Memories of his stormtrooper days rushed back to him.He didn’t know this trooper’s name, or when they had met, but those piercing green eyes still seemed familiar somehow.Finn pulled his leg free of the wounded soldier’s grip, following his friends, but the incident still left him shaken.</p><p> </p><p>An officer raced to Admiral Vonn.</p><p>“What happened down there?” the commander snapped.</p><p>“The infiltrators.The last Jedi is with them, sir,” the officer replied.She sounded out of breath.</p><p>The blood seemed to drain from Vonn’s face.“Alert the Knights of Ren.”</p><p> </p><p>Rey, Poe, Finn, and Rose raced towards a maintenance turbolift next to the energy channel.</p><p>Poe shouted into his comlink.“BeeBee-Ate, we’re coming up to you!Plan’s gone sidewise.”</p><p>BB-8 beeped incredulously.His shuttle was already out of the orbital ring and on its way to the rendezvous point on the planet’s surface.</p><p>While Rose sliced into the turbolift controls, Poe studied the orbital ring thoughtfully.</p><p>“We’re gonna need another ship,” he said.</p><p>His eyes settled on a colossal First Order ship docked above them.Its design differed sharply from that of the Star Destroyers around it.While the ship’s top resembled that of a <em>Resurgent</em>-class Star Destroyer, its underside swept downwards in a broad curve from aft to fore, terminating in an imposing vertical fin sticking down from the bow of the ship.Its hull, painted a stark white still unsullied by dust and radiation, shone like a gem in the light of the Kuat system’s orange-silver sun.</p><p>Rey followed his gaze upwards.“You’re not serious,” she said.</p><p>Finn said, “That’s an <em>Eclipse</em> Class Dreadnought.You can’t fly—”</p><p>“I can fly anything,” Poe interjected.</p><p>Rose stood up as the turbolift door opened.“We’re in,” she said.</p><p>When the group had entered the cramped space, the transparisteel door slid shut, cutting off all sound from outside.Rose fiddled with the lift controls.The capsule rocketed upwards.</p><p>“Too. . . fast. . . ,” Finn gasped as the rapid acceleration pressed them against the floor of the turbolift.Rose connected a pair of wires and the capsule crashed to a halt.There was a brief moment of weightlessness, during which Poe hit his head on the ceiling.Then everyone was on the floor again.</p><p>Rose got to her knees and dusted herself off.She said, “All right, let’s try that again.”</p><p> </p><p>The turbolift continued upwards at a more sedate pace.When it finally halted, its door opened in front of the Resistance fighters to reveal the kilometers-wide stern of the <em>Eclipse</em> Dreadnought.Thick fuel lines attached to the giant ion engines.</p><p>Poe was first out of the lift.He and Finn had changed out of their migrant disguises, which were now tucked into their satchels.Both wore a battle-ready ensemble of shirt and trousers.Finn still wore Poe’s old jacket.They moved into the docking bay, blasters in hand, but no enemies confronted them.The enormous space was empty of life.</p><p>Rey asked, “Are you sure about this?”</p><p>“Nope,” replied Poe.</p><p>“We had better odds on Raxus Prime,” Rose quipped.</p><p>“That was not my fault,” Finn said.“You need to let Raxus Prime go.”</p><p>Poe leapt into the control seat of a Glide Rover used to load supplies onto the ship.The rest of the group scrambled into the rear of the vehicle as it sped off.</p><p> </p><p>Admiral Vonn watched them race towards the <em>Eclipse</em> from an observation tower.</p><p>“Where are they going?” he mused.</p><p>The Glide Rover disappeared into the docked destroyer.Slowly, the Rebels’ plan dawned on Vonn.His right eye began to twitch.</p><p>He muttered to himself, “They can’t possibly. . .”</p><p>He seemed to gain control of himself and leaned over a First Order technician.</p><p>“How many men are on that ship?”</p><p>“Just the bridge crew and a few guards, sir,” the orange-vested tech said.“The rest are on dock leave.”</p><p>Admiral Vonn straightened and took a deep breath.“Rush as many troops as you can spare to that sector,” he ordered.“If the ship leaves the dock, destroy it.”</p><p> </p><p>Finn led the way towards the bridge of the ship.As he turned a corner, two stormtroopers raised their blasters.</p><p>“Hey, you’re not supposed to be-” one said before Finn shot him.</p><p>Four more troopers stationed in front the bridge door at the end of the corridor opened fire on them.Rey rushed forward, lightsaber deflecting blasts, while the others followed, their blasters spitting overheated plasma.There were only two troopers left guarding the door when a clatter of armor sounded behind the quartet.Another four troopers ran into the hallway and began firing up it at them.</p><p>“You take out the ones behind us!” Rey yelled.“I’ll handle these two.”</p><p>She leapt forward and slashed both stormtroopers’ blasters with one flowing motion before slamming them against the walls.She turned to see Rose and Poe blast the final remaining stormtrooper simultaneously.Rose hurried to the door and got to work on the controls.</p><p> </p><p>The bridge of the <em>Eclipse</em> swarmed with First Order crew members, most of them working at consoles on either side of a central walkway.A raised, swiveling command seat was set in the center of the bridge.A blaster shot sounded behind them.The crew spun around to see Rose lower her heavy blaster to cover them while Finn sealed the bridge door.A hole in the bridge’s ceiling sparked.</p><p>“Who’s in charge here?” Poe asked.</p><p>A gray-uniformed Deck Officer marched forward.“I am,” he said bravely.</p><p>“Great.I’m your new pilot,” Poe improvised.“Where does the pilot sit?”</p><p>Rey stepped forward and waved her palm toward the entire bridge crew.“You will set a course for the Nirauan system.”</p><p>The Deck Officer turned smartly to the crew and commanded, “Set a course for the Nirauan System!”</p><p>The crewmen turned back to their consoles and began preparing the ship for launch.Poe and Rey took the helm and began pressing buttons.</p><p>“Cold start the engines.We can jump right to hyperspace if we overheat the laser cannon drive,” Rey said.</p><p>Poe replied, “The exhaust will spill over—”</p><p>“—into the propulsion systems,” Rey continued.“We can freeze the chamber.”</p><p>Poe looked at her with a gleam in his eye as they continued to flip switches.He asked quietly, “Don’t you see?You and I?How we—”</p><p>“<em>Not the time.</em>”</p><p>Finn sat at a massive control board with dozens of buttons.“Okay, I’m going to need very specific instructions,” he said.</p><p>Rose, working at the navigation console, reported, “Shields up.Setting calculations for lightspeed.”</p><p>“Let’s go!” urged Poe.</p><p>“Don’t rush me,” Rose shot back.“I mess this up and we’ll fly right into the sun.”</p><p>Finn tapped a screen in front of him.The ship’s exterior lights clicked on.</p><p>“I found the lights.I turned on the lights!” Finn exclaimed.</p><p>One of the First Order crewmen came back to himself.He eyed Finn confusedly and asked, “Who are you—”</p><p>Finn punched him in the jaw with a <em>WHACK</em>!The crewman slumped to the ground, unconscious.</p><p>Finn said, “Let’s get somewhere else fast.”</p><p>“Working on it. . .” said Poe as he eased his hands into the steering rig.“Who uses an inverted control yoke?” he asked to no one in particular.</p><p>The <em>Eclipse</em> detached from its umbilicals.Fuel conduits pulled loose and spat blue energy as the Star Destroyer scraped out of the docking bay.The ship’s exterior lights blinked on and off in gridded patches.As it headed into space, the orbital ring’s cannons swiveled towards it and began to fire.The <em>Eclipse</em>’s shields absorbed the energy bursts.</p><p>Poe fought the controls.He leaned back, and the craft’s nose began to dip downwards.</p><p>“The black empty part is where we should be pointed!” Rey shouted.</p><p>“I’m trying!” Poe yelled.“Everything’s backwards!”</p><p>Finn looked out the window at the planet seeming to rise towards them.“‘I can fly anything,’” he said, striking a heroic pose.</p><p>Poe gained control of the ship’s trajectory, but it began to roll.As the ship turned, the moon of Kuat seemed to move from the bottom of the viewport to the top.</p><p>“Okay, we’re spinning now,” Rey said.</p><p>TIE Fighters converged on the Star Destroyer.Finn found the turret controls and began firing into their midst.Stray blaster fire ignited the fuel-soaked docking bay.</p><p>“Do we have the droid?” Poe asked anxiously.</p><p>BB-8 was in trouble.Stray fire from the orbital ring’s cannons had destroyed his maintenance shuttle’s engine.His burning ship was more than a dozen meters away from the <em>Eclipse</em>’s hangar.</p><p>“BeeBee-Ate, now!” Rey said through the comlink.</p><p>BB-8 steeled himself and ejected from the droid socket.He floated through cold, empty space, the light of the growing fire on the orbital ring reflecting off his metal exterior.Despite his precise internal timekeeping, those moments felt like hours to him.Finally, he floated into the hangar.The <em>Eclipse</em>’s internal gravity grabbed him as he passed through the oxygen shield, and he landed with a resounding clang, his dome on one side.BB-8 righted himself and gave a triumphant whistle into the comlink.</p><p>“We got him!” Rey cheered.</p><p>The docking bay exploded behind the <em>Eclipse</em>, touching off a chain reaction.Explosions engulfed the orbital ring, severing it.</p><p>Rose’s console flashed.“Good for lightspeed!” she said.</p><p>Rey leaned past Poe and shoved forward the hyperdrive lever.The stars stretched into streaks of light before them.</p><p> </p><p>The <em>Eclipse</em>’s engines lit up briefly as the hyperdrive engaged; then the dreadnought vanished.The cannons on the orbital ring ceased firing. The damaged portion of the station burned briefly before the damage control mechanisms cut off the air supply, snuffing out the fire.Then there was silence.</p><p>Suddenly, a jagged black ship appeared out of hyperspace.It was the <em>Knife 9</em>, a heavily modified transport and assault ship.Its sharp wings, which formed a point in front of its cockpit, sliced through the vacuum as it flew towards the orbital ring.The sinister vessel settled on a landing pad connected to the station, four spiny black stabilizer fins folding flat against the wings.The ship’s boarding ramp descended as its occupants, the Knights of Ren, emerged from its darkened interior.</p><p>First out of the ship was Hattaska Ren, wielding a brutal war club.Jaedec Ren skipped lightly down the ramp and leaned against his Beskar vibro-ax, the ghostly rictus of his mask turned up towards empty space.Ott and Lorl Ren marched out and stood guard on either side of the <em>Knife 9</em>’s boarding ramp.Kuruk Ren hefted his sniper rifle and stared moodily at the orbital ring.Finally, the second in command of the Knights, Solonny Ren, emerged.She studied the scene in silence, her gridded mask revealing nothing.Then she glided forward, heading for the orbital ring, long coat sweeping behind her.The other Knights moved into formation behind her.</p><p>Admiral Vonn led a column of stormtroopers and officers out of a door in the orbital ring.Some of the more junior officers nervously eyed the unforgiving vacuum surrounding them, kept at bay only by an oxygen shield enveloping the landing platform.Admiral Vonn halted midway between the station and the <em>Knife 9</em>.Solonny Ren stopped just before him and stared at him ominously.</p><p>“W-we uploaded a veil cipher to the droid,” Vonn said.“You’ll have—<em>her</em> location the moment a probe is within range of its transmitter.”</p><p>Solonny Ren unclipped a thin, rectangular object from her belt.A narrow black blade of energy sprang from it and impaled Admiral Vonn in the chest.The Admiral gasped and then collapsed to the floor of the landing pad, an expression of shock frozen on his face.A few stormtroopers instinctively raised their blasters.The Knights of Ren raised their weapons threateningly and the officers and stormtroopers backed away.</p><p>Solonny Ren deactivated the Darksaber and returned to the <em>Knife 9</em>, the Knights of Ren following her.The orbital ring personnel hurried back to the station, glad that the Knights had no more interest in them.Admiral Vonn’s slowly cooling body lay on the landing platform, eyes staring sightlessly into the stars.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Workings of Evil</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h2>Chapter Two</h2>

<h2>Workings of Evil</h2>

<p>Skyscrapers pierced the dense cloud layer that hung above Coruscant.A First Order Patrol Transport descended through the fog into the heart of the planet-covering metropolis, now far removed from its halcyon days.As the gunship floated downwards, boxy new structures gave way to the curving, magnificent architecture of the Old Republic.The security craft skimmed over the decrepit streets before landing on a broad avenue lined with squalid dwellings.Immigrants from a thousand systems lived in these slums, all seeking a better life for their children.</p>
<p>The Patrol Gunship’s bay doors opened upwards.A squad of eight stormtroopers mounted on hovering black and red speeder bikes disembarked.They separated and zoomed down narrow alleys, dispersing through the city.One buzzed past a peeling propaganda poster on a grimy wall.It was emblazoned with the First Order symbol and the slogan <em>JOIN TODAY</em>.Above <em>JOIN</em>, someone had written <em>DON’T</em> in bright red paint.</p>
<p>In a narrow passageway next to the poster, two patrolling stormtroopers roughed up a limbless alien.A pair of bright green eyes watched them from under a mop of tousled red hair.Both the eyes and the hair belonged to a tanned, heavily freckled twelve-year-old boy named Dade. </p>
<p>Dade hated living in this city, so unlike the fields of his native Dantooine.He hated the grime, and the noise, and the stench.More than anything, he hated the First Order.</p>
<p>One of the stormtroopers pushed the alien to the ground.It flailed helplessly.</p>
<p>The boy’s eyes narrowed.</p>
<p>Dade bent to the ground and picked up a piece of broken plascrete.He aimed and threw it, striking one of the troopers on the helmet.The two stormtroopers spun towards him, blasters raised.But the boy had already vanished.</p>
<p>A Bantha horn sounded from above as Dade raced through a warren of back alleys and dusty streets.Plumes of smoke billowed out of factories, tarnishing once-gleaming buildings.Finally, he reached Monument Plaza, a wide square with four bulbous, roughly conical black statues.Above it hovered the First Order Capitol, a dark, roughly hexagonal structure blocking out the light.Building-like protrusions hung from its underside, as though in mockery of the city below.The tallest of the projections stretched from the center of the Capitol to a transparisteel dome in the center of the plaza.Sealed inside the dome was the rocky peak of one of Coruscant’s highest mountains.</p>
<p>Thousands of people were gathered in the square.Their attention was consumed by a dais on which a ragged, hooded figure was held by First Order stormtrooper executioners.A row of more stormtroopers stood in a line before the dais.</p>
<p>Dade wove through the crowd, pushing closer to the dais.A towering hologram of Chancellor Armitage Hux flickered on above the platform.The hologram spoke.</p>
<p>“Today, another conspirator stands charged with treason.”</p>
<p>The stormtroopers removed the prisoner’s hood, revealing the hairy, jowled face of Biss Kova.</p>
<p>“Though support for his cause has all but vanished, let this day remind us of the consequences for defying our Supreme Leader,” Hux continued.</p>
<p>The executioners led Biss Kova to a mechanism hanging over the edge of the dais.The machine had two thin steel posts which held a hissing red lightsaber blade between them.A rack lay under it.Biss Kova stared ahead silently.</p>
<p>“Kylo Ren is not without pity, just as the traitor before you is not without remorse.And so he offers to spare this. . . <em>man’s</em> life in exchange for the location of the Resistance Base,” Hux’s hologram said.</p>
<p>Biss Kova’s face tightened slightly.He began chanting, “<em>Kofa rebiva tora famlia</em>. . .”</p>
<p>Hux grew irritated.“So be it,” he said.</p>
<p>The Chancellor’s image motioned to the executioner stormtroopers.They strapped Biss Kova into the guillotine, positioning his head under the blade.The alien continued to chant defiantly.</p>
<p>A woman in the crowd covered Dade’s eyes.He peeled her fingers away angrily.He would not ignore what was happening.He would bear witness to this outrage, this atrocity.His jaw clenched as Hux gave the final, decisive signal.</p>
<p>The lightsaber blade fell.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>From the First Order Capitol, Hux looked down at the thousands gathered in Monument Plaza.They were a distant blur from this height.</p>
<p>Hux heard boot-heels click behind him.He turned to see his second in military command, Commander Sellik.</p>
<p>“Sir?They’re here,” Sellik said.</p>
<p>“Good,” Hux said.He strode purposefully towards the Capitol’s war room, the teal-uniformed officer following him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A clawed hand reached into a silver tureen of baby shaaks huddling together for warmth.The shaaks tried to climb the sides of the dish with their tiny legs as the hand grabbed one of the very plumpest of the animals.The hand’s owner, Lord Gherlid, threw the squealing shaak into his razor-toothed mouth and crunched down on it.The animal’s screaming stopped.Lord Gherlid sucked the blubber out of the shaak’s bulbous abdomen and spit its carcass onto the floor.It landed with a wet splat.</p>
<p>The alien warlord sat at a long table in the Capitol war room, crowded with galactic despots and magnates allied—at least for the moment—with the First Order.Tribal chiefs coated in elaborate robes and stolen jewels sat shoulder to shoulder with arms dealers dressed in elaborate formal wear.They all looked up as Chancellor Hux entered the room and sat down.His nostrils flared at the foul smell of the more unkempt beings in attendance.</p>
<p>The participants of the meeting looked at each other, unwilling to break the silence.Finally, a pale human wearing a tall black hat cleared his throat.“The Kuat Drive Yards are displeased with your performance, Chancellor,” he said in a thin, whispery voice.“You promised us your soldiers would protect our profit margin.What do you have to say for yourself?”</p>
<p>“I assure you, the First Order will recompense Kay-Dee-Wye for the damage caused to your facilities,” Hux replied, “and the stolen Destroyer will soon be found.Our probe droids are scouring the galaxy as we speak.”</p>
<p>Lord Gherlid gave a harsh laugh, spraying bits of baby shaak on the table.“A Dreadnought class warship just slipped through your fingers, Hux.Your words don’t inspire confidence.”</p>
<p>“A lone signal won’t be difficult to find.Our transmissions blockade has silenced millions of systems,” Chancellor Hux said irritably.</p>
<p>Gherlid thrust another shaak into his maw.“You can silence planets, not people,” he said through a full mouth.“There have been uprisings, even on my worlds. We must not allow the seeds of revolution to take root.”</p>
<p>The Chancellor drew himself up in his seat and spoke louder, to make it clear he was speaking to the whole room.“The First Order will punish those who defy your rule.Submit your youth for conditioning.They will teach your elders the rule of law.”</p>
<p>Jor Nult, a Weequay with long, filthy dreadlocks, responded.“It’s Skywalker they believe in, not the law.And his apprentice, this girl, this <em>Jedi</em>.She’s become a symbol of hope.”</p>
<p>A Harch weapons dealer named Raykar Shen twitched his pedipalps and clicked his curved fangs together.“The people believe she will destroy you, Hux,” he intoned loftily.“And your master.”</p>
<p>Hux sneered.“Kylo Ren is no master, certainly not mine.”</p>
<p>A shapeless, fleshy being called Uggmot pounded on the table with his tiny hands.“<em>We must kill the last Jedi! </em>” he said in a thick alien language.</p>
<p>“The Knights of Ren have been dispatched to eliminate her,” Hux answered.</p>
<p>Lord Gherlid momentarily ceased picking his teeth with a baby shaak leg.“Our fates in the hands of zealots?” he growled.“You ask for our confidence, yet provide nothing to inspire it.<em>Where is Kylo Ren? </em>”</p>
<p>Chancellor Hux took a deep breath before replying.“The Supreme Leader will return when he acquires the knowledge he seeks.”</p>
<p>His audience stirred, unsatisfied.</p>
<p>“When?” Jor Nult asked.</p>
<p>Hux spoke through gritted teeth.“Soon.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Ajan Kloss</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h2>Chapter Three</h2><h2>Ajan Kloss</h2><p>The Nirauan system was in Wild Space, just beyond the Outer Rim.It was close enough to the Resistance’s base on Ajan Kloss to be useful as a rendezvous point, but still far enough away to not endanger the freedom fighters.</p><p>The <em>Eclipse</em> Dreadnought floated in orbit around the third planet out from the system’s red star.X-Wing starfighters and cruisers surrounded the vessel.Poe stood in the middle of the ship’s bridge, now empty of the First Order crew, who had been mind-tricked by twos and threes and locked in their barracks.Rose and Finn were seated at consoles nearby.</p><p>The door opened behind them.Poe turned to see Kaydel Ko Connix step onto the bridge, accompanied by a bevy of Resistance personnel.Poe saluted her. </p><p>“Colonel Connix,” he said.</p><p>She nodded.“Commander Dameron.Mission accomplished?”</p><p>“Not exactly,” Poe said.“We damaged the orbital ring, but we were unable to destroy it.On the other hand, we stole a Star Destroyer.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Connix said, waving at the ship around them.“I hadn’t noticed.Didn’t you think that was rather risky?”</p><p>Rose looked up from a console.“I disabled their homing beacon,” she said.“We’re free and clear.”</p><p>“Would you bet your life on that?” Connix responded.</p><p>Rose pursed her lips.</p><p>Connix addressed a short blond Resistance trooper next to her.“Captain Kin, have your company scan the ship.This thing could be crawling with enemy troops.”She turned back to Poe and raised her voice.“But our team didn’t consider that, did they?”</p><p>“Come on, tell me you haven’t always wanted one of these,” Poe said.</p><p>Connix rolled her eyes.<em>Pilots</em>, she thought.“Oh well, at least you had enough sense to not come straight back to Ajan Kloss.”</p><p>“Actually, that was Rey’s idea,” Rose said.</p><p>Colonel Connix threw up her hands as she left the bridge.</p><p> </p><p>The <em>Eclipse</em> descended to planetfall over the jungles of Ajan Kloss, the ship’s escort of Resistance craft seeming like insects in comparison to the hulking mass of the dreadnought.When the Star Destroyer had landed on a scrubby mesa a few hundred meters from the Resistance base, Poe, Rose, Finn, and various Resistance members who had stayed onboard to run the ship headed for the bridge door.</p><p>Finn stopped when he saw Rey standing alone in a corridor off the bridge.He approached her tentatively.</p><p>Finn asked, “You okay?”</p><p>“I failed,” Rey said.</p><p>“Don’t say that,” Finn said.“They know our tactics.We’ve been fighting this war too long.”</p><p>Rey shook her head.That wasn’t what she meant.“Those people, the children.I saw hope in their eyes.”</p><p>“They believe in you.We all do,” Finn said.</p><p>Rey whispered, “I can’t be who they need me to be.I’m not strong enough.”</p><p>“That’s not true,” Finn said.He patted her shoulder reassuringly and headed for the exit.Rey sighed and trailed after him.</p><p>The Kuat infiltration team descended the slope and trekked through the underbrush, accompanied by Colonel Connix, the Resistance bridge crew, and a couple squads of Resistance soldiers leading the handcuffed First Order prisoners.They eventually walked into a broad clearing outside the Resistance base.Starfighters and freighters were arranged haphazardly on the edges of the forest.</p><p>General Leia Organa approached the group.The Deck Officer of the <em>Eclipse</em>, who had spent most of the journey in sulky silence, realized that he was in the presence of leadership.</p><p>“You are in strict violation of the Corellian Accords!” he shouted.</p><p>“Yeah, put it on my tab,” Poe retorted.</p><p>Rose ripped his cuff title off the sleeve of his uniform.“You mind?” she asked.“I collect these.”</p><p>Colonel Connix stopped in front of Leia and motioned to the First Order crewmembers.“What should we do with them, General?”</p><p>“Cook them dinner.They look thin,” Leia replied.</p><p>The Deck Officer was still yelling as he was led into a bunker cut in the side of a rock face.“The punishment for your act of rebellion will be swift and—” he got out before the doors slammed in his face.</p><p>Rey watched Poe walk away towards a Mon Calamari Resistance officer.</p><p>“Junior.Get Beebee-Ate scrubbed down,” he ordered.</p><p>“Yes, Commander,” the officer said in a slightly wet voice.</p><p>Rey turned to Leia.“I’m sorry for rushing off, General.I had to get away from here for awhile.I’m just—not feeling myself,” Rey said.“I know it looks li—it looks like I’m making excuses.”</p><p>“Don’t tell me what things look like, tell me what they are,” Leia responded.</p><p>Rey paused for a moment, then took a deep breath.“There’s something between us.I can’t explain it.”</p><p>“Ben,” Leia said, her face radiating understanding.</p><p>“Yes,” Rey admitted.“Every night I wake up screaming.Every night, another bad dream.I’ve tried to reach him, but inside his mind. . . it’s horrible.I’m starting to think it isn’t possible to turn him back to the light.”</p><p>Leia shook her head.“Nothing’s impossible.”</p><p>Rey smiled.“Yes, Master.”</p><p> </p><p>Finn was tightening a bolt on a grappling cannon when a loud clank from behind startled him.He closed his eyes as memories flooded back.</p><p>
  <em>The noise of the blaster falling to the floor was deafening.A slim child lay curled next to it, weeping.He had broken down when he had been ordered to fire on enemy troops in a holographic combat simulator.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Off to reconditioning with you!” a stormtrooper yelled, heaving the boy off the ground and dragging him towards the exit of the simulation chamber.The child didn’t bother to resist.His silently pleading green eyes were the last thing Finn saw before the door slammed shut.</em>
</p><p>Finn tried to keep his left hand from shaking.</p><p>“Hey.It’s okay,” a voice said.</p><p>Finn opened his eyes to see Rose beside him.</p><p>“One of the stormtroopers on Kuat,” Finn said.“I knew him.I don’t remember much about him, but. . . we trained together, when we were kids.He looked so scared.I remember that feeling.”</p><p>Rose responded, “I don’t think that feeling ever goes away.”</p><p>Finn stared into the forest, his eyes far away.“I can’t let more people end up like him, like me.It has to stop.”</p><p>Rose put a hand on his.Finn’s breathing eased.</p><p>“That’s what we’re fighting for,” Rose said.</p><p> </p><p>Rey hung in the air, eyes closed and legs crossed.BB-8, his familiar white-and-orange paint job restored, warily watched the large rocks floating lazily about her.</p><p>Rey was trying to meditate, but thoughts of her bad dreams kept intruding.They had been growing worse of late.She pushed them out of her mind, but a dark, ominous feeling replaced them.She felt as though some huge evil was closing in on her unseen, preparing to strike.</p><p>Rey finally gave up.Inner peace would not come today.“Uchhh,” she groaned as she turned heels-over-head in the air and sank gently to the ground.</p><p>“Rey,” Leia said as she turned to face her apprentice, “Be patient.”</p><p>“I’m doing my best to be, Master,” Rey sighed as she walked past.“I’m going to run the training course.”</p><p> </p><p>A trio of TIE Fighters flew towards the <em>Resurgent</em>-class Star Destroyer <em>Steadfast, </em>in orbit around the volcanic world of Mustafar.</p><p>In a grove of unhealthy irontrees on the planet’s surface, a brutal battle raged.Stormtroopers fired into the midst of masked, Sith-worshipping Alazmec colonists.In the center of the maelstrom, a dark-cloaked figure cut down the Sith cultists.</p><p>The black-robed figure had answered to many names in his life.He had once been called Ben Solo.Some addressed him as Supreme Leader.The name he preferred, however, was the one he had taken for himself: Kylo Ren.</p><p>Kylo Ren blocked one of the cultist’s spears and slashed at its torso.He parried his enemies’ yellow blaster bolts as he waded through smoke and flames into their midst.Kylo impaled a robe-shrouded cultist with one of the quillons of his unstable red lightsaber before slamming him into the ground.He reversed his grip on the blade, savagely stabbing another Alazmec before pulling a third through his sword with the Force.Kylo stabbed his downed foe with its own spear and cut off the arm of another.</p><p>The last cultist fell.Kylo Ren breathed deeply from his exertion, his face caked in dirt and sweat, straggly dark hair falling untidily over his face.He looked around him.The burning forest was littered with fallen stormtroopers and Alazmec cultists.A couple of stormtroopers far from the Supreme Leader looked around as if in disbelief that the fighting had stopped. </p><p>Kylo looked up at the dark, abandoned edifice of a ruined castle.Its two pointed black spires, though crumbling, still towered menacingly over the Mustafarian landscape.The entrance gaped open like the mouth of a dead man.Kylo Ren stalked forward into it and entered Fortress Vader.</p><p> </p><p>Rey ran through the misty jungles of Ajan Kloss, dodging trees and bushes.She grabbed a helmet off of a pole set next to a gorge and looked behind her at a training remote whizzing down the path after her.Rey put the helmet over her head and pulled the blast shield down.Balancing precariously on a single rope stretched taut over the ravine, she deflected the bolts of the remote using one of her dual lightsaber’s blades.</p><p>Rey dropped the helmet on the far side of the gap and sped deeper into the forest while continuing to deflect the ball-shaped remote’s attacks.She bounded onto a large rock, pushed off it, and sprung into a tree, grabbing hold of a sturdy branch.She cut a section from a red ribbon that was hanging from a higher branch of the tree before dropping back to the ground and catching the cloth strip around her left wrist.Rey headed in the direction she had come, running atop a fallen trunk sticking partway into the chasm.Rey jumped over the vertiginous drop and rolled to her feet.</p><p>BB-8 had been waiting for her across the gorge.He followed her as she disappeared into the woods,the training remote pursuing them.</p><p> </p><p>Kylo Ren descended into a dark chamber buried deep under Fortress Vader.He raised his crossguard lightsaber, illuminating the decrepit room with red light.Tiny creatures scurried away from him and hid in crumbling masonry.A chill wind blew against his cheek.</p><p>Kylo sensed a presence.“Leave me alone,” he said.</p><p>The voice of his uncle and erstwhile master Luke Skywalker cut through the silence.“This is where the dark path leads,” it said.“An empty tomb.”</p><p>“And where did your path lead?” Kylo questioned.“You’re a ghost.”</p><p>“I know what you’re searching for, Ben,” Luke said.“Your master promised you strength, but you feel hollow.”</p><p>Kylo responded, “Soon I will be more powerful than any Jedi.Even you.”</p><p>“Are you sure?” Luke asked.</p><p>Kylo snapped.He spun, swinging his lightsaber at empty space.</p><p>As though from a great distance, Luke whispered, “Go home, Ben. . . go home to Leia. . . .”</p><p>Luke’s spirit had fled, but Kylo was still shaken.Nevertheless, he turned and continued into the crypt.Before him was an altar.A trigonal pyramid cunningly crafted of metal rested upon the stone slab.A red energy glowed inside the artifact.Kylo recognized it as a Sith holocron.He knelt before it, held out his palm, and drew on the dark side of the Force.The four sharp corners of the holocron pulled away from it as it rose into the air.It projected a blurry blue hologram of Emperor Palpatine.</p><p>“Lord Vader,” the hologram said.“Young Skywalker will soon be ours, as I have foreseen.However, the unforeseen is worthy of preparation.Should Skywalker strike me down, you will take him to the Remnicore System.There you will find Tor Valum, master of the Sith Lord who instructed me.”</p><p>The holocron emitted a laser that scanned up and down Kylo’s body.</p><p>“Here the son of Skywalker will acquire a great ability—beyond what you could hope to command in your damaged state,” Palpatine continued.“With it, you will harness the untapped power of Mortis.At last we will realize—”</p><p>The holocron detected that Kylo Ren was not Darth Vader.The energy inside it grew brighter.Palpatine’s image stuttered.</p><p>“—the d-destiny. . . po-potential—” the hologram said as it broke up.</p><p>The energy in the holocron continued to build.A blast of red lightning shot from the artifact into Kylo’s eyes.The energy spread over his face, raw, purple veins breaking out through his skin.Kylo Ren screamed as a vision flashed before him.</p><p> </p><p>Rey lost her balance and tumbled to the ground.She winced.</p><p>Luke Skywalker’s voice spoke in her head.“Your pain is an illusion.”</p><p>“It isn’t actually,” Rey said tartly.</p><p>Rey scrambled to her feet, earth staining her white clothing.She still held the red ribbon in her left hand.As the training remote buzzed around her, she activated her lightsaber.The remote fired a stinging red bolt of energy, striking her on the shoulder.</p><p>BB-8 rolled into the clearing in time to see Rey swing wildly at the remote.Rey regained some of her composure and watched the hovering remote carefully, searching for an opening.Finally, she lunged.The remote dodged upwards and shot her again.Rey’s temper flared.She slashed recklessly at the remote.As the training droid evaded her, her lightsaber chopped through two thick trees.She threw it at the remote.Her weapon whirled across the clearing, felling another tree.</p><p>Rey pulled a thin stick from the forest floor into her right hand and spun.There was a crunch as the wood impaled the little training droid against a tree.Rey reached out and caught the blue lightsaber in her left hand as it returned to her.</p><p>Rey halted, sensing a sharp but distant pain.Suddenly, she was wracked by a vision, the same vision that plagued Kylo on the opposite side of the galaxy.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>A mountain.Snow on the jagged peaks.A temple older than time.Inside, an ancient chamber.A well of light, pulsing from deep below.Two massive thrones built into the rock.Kylo Ren faces Rey before the two thrones.They fight fiercely.Kylo Ren holding out his hand in Snoke’s throne room.He says, “Join me.”His voice blends with Darth Vader’s.Vader’s helmet stands on a pedestal in Kylo’s chambers.Rey’s face, lit by twin red lightsabers.Luke Skywalker turns to face Rey on Ahch-To.Kylo on Mustafar, mere moments ago, looks upon his grisly handiwork.Luke, long years ago, yells “You killed—”Han Solo approaches Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base.Han shouts “Ben.”Kylo plunges his lightsaber into his father’s chest.Han touches his son’s cheek.Han falls towards a white light while Kylo, bathed in red, looks down at him.Rey as a young girl screams as Unkar Plutt pulls her away from a transport ship leaving Jakku.Rey being held by her mother.Rey’s voice, from the Ahch-To Mirror Cave, says “—my parents.”The Knights of Ren stand in the rain.A woman’s scream.A stormy sky over a city.Another mountain, another temple, both darker.An overpoweringly evil presence.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>The vision slipped away.Kylo fell into unconsciousness.</p><p> </p><p>Rey came back to herself, gasping for breath.She focused inwards.Slowly, she became calm.</p><p>A beep to Rey’s right caught her attention.She turned to see BB-8 trapped under a fallen tree.A round panel on his side had popped off, exposing metal and wiring.He warbled plaintively.</p><p>“Beebee-Ate, I’m so sorry,” Rey said as she dropped the stick and the red cloth to the ground beside the shattered remnants of the remote.She ran to him and heaved the thick trunk off the droid.</p><p>Rey gathered up BB-8’s missing panel and the crimson ribbon.The Jedi-in-training and the astromech moved towards the edge of a cliff overlooking the Resistance base.</p><p>“What did you see?” asked a voice from behind them.Rey turned to see Luke step into the light.He was dressed in tan robes, his graying hair and beard framing his lined face.A slight aura of blue shimmered around him.</p><p>“Han.Kylo.My parents. . . . A mountain, two thrones in the rock.Kylo Ren fought me before them.And something else, something darker. . .”Rey struggled to put into words what she had seen, but the images defied speech, slipping away from her like oil from water.</p><p>“You saw the future,” Luke said.</p><p>“Kylo saw it too,” Rey said as she settled onto a fallen tree trunk.“I could feel him.Like he was. . . there with me.”</p><p>“Where?” asked Luke.</p><p>Rey said, “Mortis.”</p><p>Luke looked at Rey gravely.He sat down beside her on the log.</p><p>“What do you know of Mortis?” he inquired.</p><p>“It’s an ancient place.From a time before the Jedi, before the Sith.Two thrones, two powerful beings.One of darkness, the other of light.Together, they brought balance.”Rey shook her head.“But it’s a myth.”</p><p>“So was I, if you remember,” Luke said.He seemed more tangible than before, almost all traces of blue light gone.The Jedi Master settled back and took a deep breath.Rey briefly wondered if he actually needed to, or if it was just a familiar affectation.</p><p>“Beneath the Temple of Mortis lies a power beyond anything the Jedi have ever known,” Luke said.“If Kylo reaches the temple, all we’ve fought for will be lost.<em>You have to confront him</em>.”</p><p>Rey met his gaze.“You want me to. . . kill Leia’s son?”</p><p>Luke sighed.“The future is always in motion.What will happen if you face him, I know not.”</p><p>“There’s good in him,” Rey said.</p><p>“There’s good in all of us,” Luke replied.“But the boy I knew is gone.”</p><p>Rey stared at the ground, crestfallen.</p><p>The Jedi Master spoke again.“You tried to save him, Rey; you can’t blame yourself for not succeeding.Only his mother can save him, if he will allow himself to <em>be</em> saved.But the balance of the Force must be preserved.”</p><p>Rey scoffed.“‘Balance.’Dark suffocates the light.Light extinguishes the dark.Over and over.How is that balance?”</p><p>“I never really understood it, either,” said Luke.“Perhaps it means something different from what the Jedi of old believed.”</p><p>Rey looked down at the Resistance base.She could see Chewbacca at the near end of the encampment, working on the <em>Millennium Falcon</em>.Poe was fine-tuning the thrusters of his X-Wing starfighter.Further away, Finn and Rose calibrated a grappling cannon.</p><p>“I spent my whole life wanting a family,” Rey said.“Now I’ve got one.I won’t abandon them.”</p><p>“The Force is speaking to you, Rey.”</p><p>“Maybe I’m not who it thinks I am,” Rey spat.</p><p>“Who are you?” asked Luke.</p><p>“I’m no one.”</p><p>Luke stood.“If that’s what you believe, then the last Jedi is truly dead.”</p><p>Rey rose to face him.“Maybe he is,” she said quietly.</p><p> </p><p>Rey trudged dejectedly back to the Resistance base, BB-8 trailing behind.Poe was still working on his X-Wing.When he spotted Rey, he dropped his tools and walked towards her, a grin on his face.It disappeared when he saw the astromech behind her.</p><p>Poe asked accusingly, “What did you do to the droid?”</p><p>“I’m sorry.It was an accident,” said Rey sheepishly as Poe dropped into a crouch to examine BB-8.</p><p>“Buddy.Look at you.You’re a mess,” the Resistance pilot said.BB-8 beeped at him.</p><p>Poe stood up.“You dropped a tree on him?!”</p><p>“I said it was an accident,” Rey responded brittlely.</p><p>“Right, you accidentally drop lumber on people now?What’s next, you gonna drop a tree on me?Drop one on Finn maybe?”</p><p>His words were infuriating, but Rey couldn’t keep the corner of her mouth from curling up.“You know what you are?” she asked.“You’re difficult.Really difficult.You’re a difficult man.”</p><p>“You—You are. . . mmh,” Poe said, shaking his head.</p><p>They were starting to attract stares from various Resistance members.Rey decided to attempt to make peace.“I promise I’ll fix him,” she said, holding out a round, orange panel.</p><p>Poe waved it away.“What exactly happened out there?”</p><p>“I got distracted. I think I’m just tired.That’s all,” she said.The explanation didn’t convince either of them.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” asked Poe.</p><p>Rey hesitated.“I—I can’t tell you.”</p><p>“Why?Is it a secret?”His voice dropped into a mock-conspiratorial whisper.“A <em>Jedi</em> secret?”</p><p>“Please stop.”</p><p>Dameron shed his jocular manner.He took the round piece of metal from Rey.“All right.We’ll fix him together.”</p><p>Rey was suddenly aware that Poe was standing closer to her than he ever had before.</p><p>“I can’t,” Rey said, stepping back.“There are rules.Jedi rules.”</p><p>“Hey, I get it,” Poe said gently, holding his hands up.“No attachments, Jedi path, I’ve read that story too.But. . .”He caught himself, holding back words.“I’m just saying you don’t have to do this alone.”</p><p>Rey smiled wanly.</p><p>Through a crowd of pilots, Leia noticed Rey and Poe together.She recognized the tension under their argument; it reminded her of Han and herself, so long ago. . . .Leia considered intervening, but decided against it.Sometimes, you just had to let the young figure things out for themselves.Nevertheless, she thought, <em>Be careful, Rey.</em></p><p> </p><p>Rey and Poe looked up from their work as Finn ran by.“Poe, Rey, you need to see this!” he called.“Chewie found something amazing!”</p><p>Poe and Rey looked at each other bemusedly and followed him.Rose joined them as Finn led the way out of the Resistance base.They scrambled through the forest and up a steep rock face to the <em>Eclipse </em>Star Destroyer.After wandering around inside the vessel for a while, they finally spotted Chewbacca.</p><p>The Wookiee was standing next to a large blast door, looking into the hull of the ship through a small rectangular porthole.When he saw the group, he brayed excitedly and motioned them over.As the other Resistance members gathered around him, Chewie opened the door.</p><p>Beyond the blast door was a two kilometer-long expanse of decommissioned Imperial weaponry.Ships, walkers, speeders, assault tanks, and mobile heavy artillery vehicles sat next to rows of blasters, mounds of thermal detonators, and piles of more esoteric weaponry.</p><p>“This is enough firepower to take the Capitol,” Finn said, his eyes lighting up.</p><p>“See?When have I ever come back empty handed?”Poe slapped Finn’s back.“This.This was the plan.”</p><p>“Was it?” Rose asked doubtfully.</p><p>Finn walked into the arsenal, looking about in awe.“We have ships.Weapons.All we need is an army.”</p><p>“How?” Poe wondered.“Nobody can hear us.We’re alone in the dark.”</p><p>As the others started to explore the arsenal, Rey stood in the door and thought.Poe’s words had called something to mind, if she could just remember <em>what</em>. . . .</p><p>Finally, Rey spoke.“You said we were alone. . . but we don’t have to be.”</p><p> </p><p>Rey opened an ancient, brown-covered Jedi text and lay it on the <em>Millennium Falcon</em>’s Dejarik table.Finn, Poe, Rose, and Chewie gathered around her.</p><p>“The Jedi had a communications system in the days of the Old Republic,” Rey said excitedly.“A Force beacon, engineered to call the outlying systems to war.It was powered by a nexus beneath the temple.”</p><p>Rey pointed at a sketch of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.The drawing depicted light flowing from the spire of the temple into space.</p><p>“No way it still works,” Finn said.</p><p>Poe cut in, “Old Republic tech is better than the junk we have today.”</p><p>“That signal pre-dates the Empire by thousands of years,” Rose mused.“The First Order’s blockade couldn’t possibly disrupt its frequency.”</p><p>“I guess it’s worth a shot,” said Finn.</p><p>All eyes turned to Poe.He shrugged.“Anything’s worth a shot.”</p><p>Chewie roared optimistically.</p><p>“Yeah, I hope so too.Rey?”</p><p>Rey hesitated.In her excitement, she had briefly forgotten the dark feeling from her meditations, but now the unexplained dread had returned, stronger than before.</p><p>“<em>Rey,</em>” Poe said loudly.</p><p>She snapped out of her thoughts.“Hope is all we have left,” she said.</p><p> </p><p>Poe and Chewbacca were repairing the <em>Falcon</em>.A short distance away, Rey sat on a crate, perusing the Jedi texts in the fading light.</p><p>“You like him, don’t you?”</p><p>Rey spun to see Maz Kanata standing beside her.</p><p>“I don’t—what?”</p><p>Maz waved in Poe’s general direction.He was staring at Rey.Chewbacca tossed him a wrench, which he barely caught.</p><p>“The pilot,” Maz said.“You are fond of him, and he of you.”</p><p>“Is it that obvious?” Rey asked, mortified.</p><p>Maz smiled reassuringly.“Leia told me.But she did not wish to interfere.I have fewer compunctions.”</p><p>“I can’t be in love with him, or with anyone.It’s against the Jedi code,” Rey said.</p><p>“My child,” Maz said, adjusting her goggles, “I am no Jedi, but I can give you one piece of advice.Don’t let some old man who died a thousand years before you were born dictate how you live your life.”</p><p>Rey protested, “But Jedi are supposed to be free of attachments.”</p><p>“Nonsense.The Force attaches everything to everything else.What the Jedi mean is that you must not be selfish and possessive.You must not be jealous.You must not attempt to save the ones you love when it is their time to pass on.If you can avoid these things, then it does not matter if you love.”</p><p>Rey digested this.Finally, she said, “Thank you for your advice.”</p><p>“You’re welcome, child,” the pirate queen replied warmly.“At my age, minding other people’s business is one of the great pleasures.Besides, talking to you gave me a good opportunity to watch Chewbacca.”</p><p>Rey laughed.It was the first time she could remember laughing in a long while.She relaxed and turned back to her reading.</p><p> </p><p>Darkness fell over Ajan Kloss.In the briefing room of the Resistance base, a crowd of Resistance personnel gathered around a holotable.Poe stood across from Leia.He fiddled with the table’s controls, and a hologram of the First Order Capitol lit up above it.</p><p>“As you know, the First Order has silenced communication between all neighboring systems,” Poe said.“The source of the blocking is a transmission jammer deep in the First Order Capitol on Coruscant, here.”</p><p>The hologram blinked and zoomed in on a cube within the Capitol.</p><p>“So far, we’ve been unable to find a weakness,” Poe continued.“No thermal exhaust port, no oscillator.”</p><p>Leia smiled proudly.He was a born leader.</p><p>“In other words, they’re onto us,” Snap Wexley grumbled.“No shortcuts.”</p><p>“Exactly.Our forces are too depleted to mount a direct assault, but we’ve found an alternative to attacking the jammer,” Poe said.He pressed a button.The hologram of the Capitol dissipated and was replaced by an image of the five-spired Jedi Temple.</p><p>“There’s a beacon under the Jedi Temple on Coruscant,” Rey said as Poe displayed schematics of an ancient machine."It needs two Kyber crystals in order to be activated.We think there are some on Bonadan.”</p><p>“It’s an analog system from the days of the Old Republic, so the First Order’s jamming can’t block it,” Rose piped up.</p><p>Poe took charge again.“A small team will activate the beacon and summon the galaxy to war.”</p><p>The hologram showed a light shooting from the central spire of the temple.The image zoomed out to a star map.The light traveled from Coruscant and connected fifty other planets.</p><p>“When they succeed. . . the rest of us will be ready,” Poe finished.</p><p>Finn stepped forward.“I’ll lead the team, General.”</p><p>“I’ll lead the team, General,” Rose said.“But I’ll let him think he’s doing it.”</p><p>Leia looked at Rey, sensing the conflict within her.“Rey?” she asked.</p><p>“They’re looking for me, it’s dangerous enough as it is.”She paused and then said quietly, “I can’t go with you.”</p><p>Poe’s smile faded.</p><p>Leia didn’t press the issue.“Finn, Rose, prepare for your mission,” she ordered.“Everyone else, dismissed.”</p><p>The Resistance members began to file out of the room.</p><p>On the edge of the room, R2-D2 beeped.</p><p>“Coruscant?” said C-3PO.“Finally a good idea from those scrambled circuits of yours.Coruscant will be quite pleasant this time of year.”</p><p>Artoo blatted and rolled into a narrow corridor leading out of the base.Threepio followed him.The golden droid said, “Yes, a properly refined city will be welcome after hoveling down here like a Gundark.”</p><p>Rey left the briefing room by the same corridor the droids had taken.Poe followed her.</p><p>“Hey,” he said.“What was that about?”</p><p>Rey responded bleakly, “I have to bring an end to all this.I have to confront him.”</p><p>“Mmmhmm.You’re just gonna ‘confront him’?Who talks like that?”</p><p>“Jedi do.I’m new to this.”</p><p>“Okay, I’m going with you.”</p><p>“No.I have to go alone,” Rey said, walking down the corridor.</p><p>Poe followed her determinedly.“Hey.Look, I know you think I’m wasted air, Master Jedi—”</p><p>“Please stop calling me that—”</p><p>“—but tell me, where is this confrontation going to happen?”</p><p>“Mortis,” said Rey.“In the Unknown Regions.”</p><p>“Mortis is a myth,” said Poe.</p><p>“It isn’t.I saw it.”</p><p>“Oh, you <em>saw</em> it.And how do you plan on finding it?”</p><p>“I’ll. . . figure it out.”</p><p>“Hey, Threepio!” Poe called.</p><p>C-3PO and R2-D2 turned to face them.</p><p>“Do you know where Mortis is?” Poe asked.</p><p>Artoo beeped.</p><p>“Mortis does not appear on any star chart,” Threepio said.“The last known sighting was more than half a century ago.”</p><p>Poe turned back to Rey.“Does your book have any star maps?The location of a wayfinder maybe?”</p><p>"No.”</p><p>“See?”Poe said.“It’s a fool’s errand rushing off to a legendary planet when you don’t even know where it is.”</p><p>Rey’s head drooped.“I need to think,” she said.</p><p>Poe watched Rey walk away.He sighed and was about to head for his quarters when a flash of realization struck.He changed direction mid-stride and went in search of Chewie.</p><p> </p><p>The next morning dawned bright and clear.There seemed to be less fog than usual, even at sunrise when Poe and Chewbacca began loading the <em>Falcon</em>.</p><p>“Because I’m not sending her out there alone, that’s why,” Poe said.</p><p>“Braaggghh!” said Chewie.</p><p>“Will you trust me?”</p><p>The sun had risen over the tops of the trees when Poe pulled the fuel hose out of the <em>Falcon.</em>Rey walked up to him. </p><p>“You were right before,” Rey said.“I’m going to get the Kyber Crystals from the Forbidden Desert of Bonadan.”</p><p>“I know.We’re going with you,” Poe said, tapping her arm as he walked past towards the <em>Falcon</em>’s boarding ramp.Chewie, Finn, Rose, C-3PO and BB-8 followed him.</p><p>“I need to go alone,” Rey said.</p><p>“Yeah,” said Finn.“Alone with friends.”</p><p>“It’s too dangerous, Finn.”</p><p>The others gathered behind Finn.</p><p>“We go together,” the ex-stormtrooper said.</p><p>Chewie roared his agreement.</p><p>Rey looked from one face to the next.All held firm.</p><p>BB-8 beeped.</p><p>“I wholeheartedly agree,” Threepio said.</p><p>Rey shook her head at her friends, but a smile played across her lips.She gave in.</p><p> </p><p>A small crowd of Resistance fighters gathered to see the team off.</p><p>Connix and Dameron saluted each other.</p><p>“Colonel,” Poe said, “hold the fort while we’re away.”</p><p>“Don’t worry, Commander,” the Resistance officer said sweetly.“I’m sure we can keep the base in perfectly good condition without you.”</p><p>Poe smirked and walked up to Rey, who was staring out at the verdant jungle.Sunlight streamed through the fog and dappled the ground with shadows of leaves.</p><p>“Hey, we should get goin’,” Poe said.</p><p>Rey looked at him and then turned back to the forest.</p><p>“What is it?” Poe asked.</p><p>“Nothing,” said Rey.The feeling of doom had dissipated, and a calm had descended upon her.She did not know where her path would lead, but she would trust in the Force, and in her friends.What else could she do?</p><p>See-Threepio stood next to Artoo-Detoo.</p><p>“In the event that I do not return, I want you to know that you have been a—a real friend Artoo,” the golden droid said.“My best one in fact.”</p><p>R2-D2 beeped a farewell as his companion walked towards the <em>Millennium Falcon</em>.</p><p>Rey walked up to Leia.</p><p>“I suppose this is goodbye,” Rey said to Leia.</p><p>The General shook her head.“No.”</p><p>“You’re right,” Rey said.“It’s not.I will return and complete my training.I promise.”</p><p>BB-8 beeped.</p><p>Rey looked down at him.“No, you can’t do it for me.”</p><p>“Never underestimate a droid,” Leia remarked.</p><p>Rey looked back to Leia.“There’s so much I want to tell you,” she said, voice quavering.</p><p>“Tell me when you get back,” said Leia.She hugged Rey to herself like the daughter she never had.“Rey. . . never be afraid of who you are.”</p><p>A tear rolled down Rey’s cheek onto Leia’s shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>The <em>Millennium Falcon</em> lifted off from the Resistance base.The freighter flew over the jungle canopies and past the grounded <em>Eclipse </em>into the skies of Ajan Kloss.Inside, Rey and Chewie occupied the pilot’s and copilot’s chairs, respectively.Finn and Poe took the rear seats, Rose leaning against the back of Finn’s.C-3PO crowded into the cabin as BB-8 beeped to himself just outside.</p><p>Chewie growled a question.</p><p>Rey smiled at him.“It is,” she said.</p><p>The cloudy atmosphere of Ajan Kloss receded behind the <em>Falcon</em> as it soared into space.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Shadows of Hate</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h2>Chapter Four</h2>

<h2>Shadows of Hate</h2>

<p>The sleek, long, black-and-red TIE whisper screamed out of the dark Coruscant sky and into a docking bay in the First Order Capitol.The rear of the ship whipped sideways as it came to an abrupt halt and settled to the floor.The top hatch sprung open.</p>
<p>Kylo Ren clambered out of the starfighter and leapt to the ground.Nearby stormtroopers rushed to stand in orderly rows.They raised their fists in the air as the Supreme Leader passed between them.Kylo paid them little mind.He had no time for pomp and formality today.</p>
<p>A gaggle of officers emerged from the blast doors leading into the docking bay.Kylo pointed at the highest-ranking one.</p>
<p>“Where are the Knights of Ren?” he demanded.</p>
<p>“They just arrived,” the officer said.“Their ship is in Docking Bay Ninety-four.”</p>
<p>Kylo pushed past her brusquely and stalked away.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Knights of Ren sat in the dimly lit interior of the <em>Knife 9</em>.Solonny and Hattaska Ren were talking quietly.Jaedec, Ott, and Lorl sat around a crate, playing sabacc.Kuruk brooded in a corner.</p>
<p>The Knights looked up as the boarding ramp of the <em>Knife 9</em> descended and Kylo Ren stomped into the ship.They knelt before him.</p>
<p>“Rise,” Kylo said.</p>
<p>The Knights did so.Solonny Ren eyed their master.</p>
<p>“Hello, Kylo,” she said.</p>
<p>Kylo nodded slightly, acknowledging her greeting without returning it himself.</p>
<p>Solonny stepped towards him.</p>
<p>“Aww, did you hurt yourself?” she asked, caressing the inflamed veins on his cheek with her gloved hand.Kylo flinched away from her touch minutely.</p>
<p>“S-s-so skittish,” Solonny said as she crept behind him, her fingers playing over his shoulders.“I remember when you begged for my touch. . . <em>Kylo</em>.”</p>
<p>Kylo fought to keep his face expressionless.“I require the services of Albrekh,” he said tonelessly.</p>
<p>“He’s in the back,” Hattaska said.He led Kylo to the rear of the ship, where a grubby, long-eared alien sat at a work table.The metalsmith looked up, his eyes hidden by electrogoggles.</p>
<p>Kylo brought a bag out of his robes and poured the broken shards of his mask onto the table.He and the Knights watched in silence as Albrekh reassembled the fragments with his grubby fingers and hammered them into place.As the Symeong applied molten red sarrassian iron to solder the pieces together, he murmured bitter nothings to himself.</p>
<p>Finally, the job was done.Albrekh turned the finished helmet to face Kylo Ren.Kylo picked it up and placed it gingerly over his head.Immediately, he felt more in control.He turned to the Knights of Ren.</p>
<p>“Report on your hunt for the scavenger,” he said, his voice distorted by the mask.</p>
<p>“She has proven to be most elusive,” Solonny replied.“But we had a recent break on Kuat.We’re certain we can find her.”</p>
<p>Kylo said, “Good.Remember your orders; I want her alive.”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry,” Solonny said.“We won’t hurt your girlfriend.Much.”</p>
<p>Kylo studied her a moment and then left, his dark cape swirling after him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inside a grand, spacious chamber at the top of the First Order Capitol, a trickle of water ran through an indoor fountain.From the walls of the room hung ornate drapes.A throne-like, swiveling chair faced the dark skyline of Coruscant, visible through a massive circular window.</p>
<p>Chancellor Hux removed his greatcoat and cape, folded the garments, and placed them neatly over the back of an intricately carved wooden chair.On the accompanying desk, he set his peaked black cap.Hux walked to the edge of his quarters and caught himself in a full-length mirror.He gingerly touched a streak of grey hair.Hux considered it a mark of his devotion to the First Order; the product of unceasing stress, of long days and longer nights spent planning strategy and giving orders.<em>His</em> was the true work, done while the Supreme Leader wasted his time hunting for myths in the Outer Rim.</p>
<p>Hux peered into a glass case set on the wall.It contained several items, including a holocron, a Jedi star compass, and other trinkets of less rarity.The object in his collection which he prized the most, however, rested upon a pedestal in the center of the display case: a shining, electrum-plated lightsaber hilt.Hux gazed at the weapon enviously.</p>
<p>A thought occurred to the Chancellor.He removed several gold coins from his trouser pocket and placed one on the table.Hux extended his hand and concentrated on moving the coin with the Force.It didn’t budge.Hux’s face reddened from the strain.</p>
<p>“Nnngh!” he groaned.</p>
<p>“Has all been well in my absence?” a distorted voice said.</p>
<p>Startled, Hux looked up at a dark form standing in the shadows of the room.</p>
<p>“Supreme Leader,” Hux said with as much composure as he could muster.“You’ve returned.If I’d known—”</p>
<p>Kylo cut him off.“I don’t need grand displays and processions.Or titles.<em>Chancellor</em>.”He stepped into the light.The cracks in his mask seemed to glow blood-red.</p>
<p>“I sense. . . unease about my appearance, Hux.”</p>
<p>“About the mask?” Hux responded rather stiffly.“No sir.Well done.”</p>
<p>“My Knights tell me the girl was within your grasp,” Kylo rumbled.</p>
<p>Hux snapped, “Apparently <em>your Knights</em> took it upon themselves to deal with my Admiral’s failure.”</p>
<p>“And how should I address your failure?” Kylo asked.</p>
<p>Hux turned whiter and took a small step back.</p>
<p>Kylo matched his movement.“She’s beloved, isn’t she?”</p>
<p>“Belief is the solace of peasants.The people cling to folklore, but they fear the First Order.”</p>
<p>“They fear <em>me</em>,” Kylo Ren said.“Soon I will command the Force in ways unseen since the Ancients.The ability to destroy a planet will be. . . insignificant.”</p>
<p>Hux regarded him with mixed fear and awe.“The power described in the Sith texts.You’ve found it?”</p>
<p>“It is within my reach,” said Kylo.“With what I’ve seen on Mustafar, the First Order is about to become a true Empire.”</p>
<p>“What are your orders?” asked Chancellor Hux.</p>
<p>Kylo Ren placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward.“Find the Resistance,” he boomed.“Wipe them out, and prepare to crush any worlds that defy us.”</p>
<p>“And the girl?”</p>
<p>“Leave her to me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kylo stood in his quarters in the First Order Capitol.While his chamber on the <em>Supremacy</em> had been shadowy and gray, his new room was a stark white cathedral of angular walls and pointed spires.Bright light shone from wall panels, contrasting with the dark, starry sky visible through a diamond-shaped viewport.Near the center of the chamber, Darth Vader’s helmet lay on a low stand.</p>
<p>Kylo reached across the stars with his mind.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Aboard the <em>Millennium Falcon</em>, in an alcove covered in instrument panels and exposed mechanical parts, Rey sat reading.She looked up from the book as she sensed the presence of another mind touching hers.The Jedi-in-training dropped her text and stood up.Her surroundings seemed to darken and fall away as Kylo Ren snapped into view before her.</p>
<p>He spoke first.His voice seemed to echo.“I knew you couldn’t keep me out forever.Our bond is too strong.”</p>
<p>“I’m not trying to keep you out,” Rey retorted.“Are you still searching for power?”</p>
<p>“Yes.Soon I will be stronger than Darth Vader.”</p>
<p>“You don’t have to do this,” Rey said.“I feel the light in you, Ben.”</p>
<p>“I must find what I seek,” Kylo said.“You don’t understand why yet.But you will.Soon.”</p>
<p>“What will you do then?Do you still want to kill me?”</p>
<p>“No.I have other plans,” said Kylo.“I offered you my hand once.You wanted to take it.Why didn’t you?”</p>
<p>Rey answered his question with another.“You could have killed me.Why didn’t you?”</p>
<p>“You can’t hide, Rey,” Kylo whispered.“Not from me.”</p>
<p>“I see through the cracks in your mask,” Rey said fiercely.“You’re haunted.You can’t stop seeing what you did to your father.”</p>
<p>“I’m haunted by more than that,” Kylo responded, stepping forward.“Do you still count the days since your parents left?Such pain in you.Such anger.I don’t want to have to kill you.”He was close enough to touch.Rey stepped back, but cold metal dug into her back, stopping her.</p>
<p>“I’ve seen the future,” Kylo continued.“You’re going to come to me, and I’m going to turn you to the dark side.When I offer you my hand again. . . you’ll take it.”</p>
<p>“We’ll see,” hissed Rey.</p>
<p>“Yes,” Kylo said.“We will.”</p>
<p>Kylo disappeared.Rey found herself staring through the doorway of the nook into an empty corridor.She shivered slightly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kylo Ren lowered himself into the cockpit of his starfighter.A probe droid, unit designation VX-20, settled into a data dock set over the Supreme Leader’s right shoulder.</p>
<p>“Set a course for Remnicore,” he commanded.</p>
<p>VX-20 beeped affirmation.</p>
<p>Hux watched Kylo’s TIE whisper fly upwards to the stars.His lip curled.“Goodbye, Ren,” he said coldly.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Bonadan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h2>Chapter Five</h2><h2>Bonadan</h2><p>Chewbacca moaned quietly to himself as he scrutinized the holographic creatures on the <em>Millennium Falcon</em>’s Dejarik table.He seemed to be taking his time about it.Poe and Finn sat across from him.</p><p>Poe leaned forward.“You ever gonna go?” he asked.</p><p>The Wookiee’s eyes scanned forth and back between his two opponents.He sniffed.</p><p>“He can’t beat us every time,” Finn muttered, stroking his chin.</p><p>Poe responded, “Well, apparently, he does.”</p><p>“How does he do it?”</p><p>“This guy right here?” Poe said.“It’s ’cause he cheats.”</p><p>Chewbacca roared angrily.</p><p>“I’m <em>kidding! </em>” Poe said loudly.</p><p>“Oh, come on, take your turn,” said Finn.</p><p>“You’re two-hundred and fifty years old—”</p><p>“You’re taking forever.That’s cheating.”</p><p>“—of course you’re better than us.”</p><p>“That’s why we think you’re cheating.”</p><p>A beeping noise made all three of the competitors look up.</p><p>Rose, sitting in a swiveling chair, scrutinized an instrument panel next to her.“Looks like we’re coming up on Bonadan,” she said.</p><p>Chewbacca growled and waved an arm at Finn and Poe as he stood.</p><p>“Don’t worry,” said Finn.</p><p>“We’re not gonna turn it off,” reassured Poe.</p><p>Chewbacca roared a combined agreement and threat as he headed for the cockpit.</p><p>Finn commented, “He’s cheating.”</p><p>“Definitely,” said Poe as he rose and turned off the holochess game.</p><p>Rey and Chewbacca took their seats in the cockpit.Rey pushed the hyperdrive lever forward.The blue of hyperspace turned to white streaks, which then resolved into individual points of starlight.</p><p>“Let’s go over the plan one last time,” Poe said.“We’re going to the second planet in the Bonadan system—”</p><p>“—to find Kyber crystals hidden at the Jedi Temple in the Forbidden Valley,” interjected Rey.</p><p>“But that’s not all we’re doing,” continued Poe.“We’re also meeting an informant with a message for General Leia.”</p><p>Rose asked, “How are we supposed to find this informant?”</p><p>“He’s supposed to meet us near the Jedi temple,” Poe replied, shrugging.“There isn’t much life on the second planet, so he shouldn’t be too hard to find.I guess we’ll see when we get there.”</p><p> </p><p>The Bonadan system was one of the most densely populated regions of the Corporate Sector.Despite the polluted state which centuries of mining and industry had left them in, the planets Bonadan and Roonadan were twin hubs of commerce.Tycoons and nobles from across the galaxy traveled there to conduct business.</p><p>The second planet of the Bonadan system, however, was a runty, tide-locked world, one side perpetually turned towards the sun, the other forever in shadow.Both were almost uninhabitable, for opposing reasons: the sunward side was a parched desert, the dark side a freezing, ice-covered ocean.In between the two extremes, a narrow twilight zone boasted the only settlement of off-worlders.</p><p>The <em>Millennium Falcon</em> descended into a valley of rounded mountains cradling the lone city.Broad canals spotted with junk boats reflected the glowing lights of the city’s bustling nightmarkets.The sun hung low over the mountains.</p><p>The <em>Falcon</em> landed on a multi-level docking array shaped like a giant plant stalk, the landing pads the tower’s leaves.Rey, Poe, Finn, Rose, Chewbacca, and BB-8 trooped down the boarding ramp.Two stumpy Langoles named Oke and Sokko ran up to them.Poe tossed them some credits and promptly became embroiled in an argument with the aliens.</p><p>“I know it’s a Corellian light freighter, but you’re gonna <em>say</em> it’s a Praddor Cruiser in the registry.That’s why I winked when I gave you the money!Understand what’s happening here?”</p><p>Oke and Sokko chattered angrily at him, their voices rising.</p><p>“Okay, which one of you is in charge, because you’re both the size of children where I come from,” Poe said, exasperated.“Chewie, will you straighten these guys out?”</p><p>Chewbacca roared at the Langoles.Their chattering turned to shrieks, though whether they were of fury or terror was unclear.</p><p>The landing pads descended smoothly, rotating around the central tower.It stopped at ground level, just above a broad canal.</p><p>“Come on,” Finn said to the others.“Let’s find this Jedi temple,”</p><p>“It’s a ways inland,” Rey said, consulting an old, brown map.“We should probably find some sort of transportation.”</p><p>They were interrupted by a commotion from behind them.</p><p>“Braaaggghh!” Chewbacca roared as he lifted one of the Langoles off the ground and shook him.Their cries were now definitely of terror.</p><p>“Aw, Chewie!” Poe chided.“<em>Negotiate</em>.Persuade, quietly.”</p><p>The towering Wookiee shook his head and whined that he was being persuasive.</p><p>“Let’s just go,” Poe said.Chewbacca gave Oke and Sokko a parting growl and followed the others into the nightmarket.</p><p>Bright lights and strange smells assaulted the group as they passed aliens and humans haggling over artisan crafts and live animals.Packs of teenagers ate bizarre street food bought or stolen from market stalls.Children laughed at buskers, jugglers, puppet shows.</p><p>“Come witness the frothing eye of Loyyil Karn!” A hawker shouted, beckoning them towards a curtained booth.Rey lingered but moved on.C-3PO stopped and had to be pulled away by Poe.</p><p>“I still don’t see why we had to land in town and then trek to the Jedi temple,” Poe said.</p><p>“Trust me,” Rose replied.“You do <em>not</em> want to get caught for a parking violation in this sector.”</p><p>“Besides, there’s a shipyard right over there,” Finn added, pointing at a stall bearing the name <em>Mistan’s Previously Owned Watercraft</em>.</p><p>Mistan was a strong-chinned man dressed in a blue and purple plaid robe.“I’m Mistan, and I’d eat my hat to make you a deal!” he said, waving his arms.Considering the prodigious size of his broad-brimmed hat, this was quite a statement.Mistan immediately launched into a lengthy spiel about his wares.</p><p>Eventually Poe managed to get a word in edgewise and rent a large junk boat from him.The Resistance team climbed aboard and pushed off, Chewbacca poling the ferry up the broad canal towards the desert beyond the hills.</p><p>Poe sat in the bow of the ferry.“You know, this reminds me of my grandfather,” he said.</p><p>Rey, who had been leaning against the railing of the boat gazing at the passing nightmarkets, looked at him.</p><p>“During the war, and sometimes, after my mother. . . passed, I used to stay with my grandfather,” Poe continued.“We would go out in an old boat he had named the <em>Shara Bey</em>, after my mom.He tried to teach me to fish, but I was terrible at it.Not enough patience.I was good at sailing, though.”</p><p>Rey said gently, “Losing your mother must have been hard.”</p><p>“It was,” Poe said.He pulled a chain necklace out of his collar and fiddled with the silver ring hung from it.“She used to take me up in her A-Wing, teach me to fly it.Anytime I’m in a cockpit, I feel like she’s with me.”</p><p>“Was that her ring?” Rey asked.</p><p>“Yes.Someday I’ll give it to the right person.”Poe eyed her.“What do you remember about your family?”</p><p>Rey dug for a memory of the times before her abandonment.“My father and I would build starships out of wood.They could fit in your hand.”</p><p>“Anything else?”</p><p>“I remember love.That’s why I waited for so long.”A note of doubt crept into her voice.“But I must have imagined it.They were no one.”</p><p>The junk rounded a hill, entering the broad, sandy plain of the Forbidden Desert.Poe looked at Rey, the growing sunlight bathing her in radiance, shining from her eyes.He wished he could change the past for her, for both of them.But he could not; so instead he simply said, “No one is no one.”</p><p>Rey absorbed his words, then smiled.To Poe, her face seemed brighter than the sun.</p><p>Chewbacca roared.</p><p>“Okay, Chewie, I know it’s my turn,” Poe said, taking the pole from him.</p><p>“This boat trip reminds me of a story as well,” See-Threepio expounded.“Once, I was on Drexel with Artoo and Master Luke. . . .”</p><p>There was a collective sigh from his fellow passengers.</p><p> </p><p>The sun was noticeably higher in the sky when the canal opened out into a small lake.Rose handed the pole to Chewbacca, who guided the boat onto the sandy bank.</p><p>Poe stepped off the boat and said, “We walk from here.”</p><p>The others disembarked behind him.</p><p>“I can see the temple,” Rey said, standing on her toes to peer over a large rock outcropping.“It’s on that hill.”</p><p>“What’s that noise?” Finn asked, cocking his head.</p><p>“It’s probably just the wind,” said Poe.</p><p>Rose said, “It doesn’t sound like wind.It sounds like. . . drums.”</p><p>Chewbacca growled his agreement with Rose.</p><p>“Well, let’s find out,” Poe said.The rest of the group followed him as he led them around the rock.A wide valley opened beneath them, full of people of numerous species dancing and singing.Many of them were tentacle-faced desert dwellers in colorful saris and chunky jewelry; others were townspeople or off-worlders, dressed in utilitarian garb or the latest Nabooan fashions.Fireworks exploded in the air above the masses, spraying colored powder.</p><p>“<em>What is this? </em>” Poe asked, stupefied.</p><p>“The Aki-Aki Festival of the Ancestors,” C-3PO said.“The celebration occurs only once every forty-two years.”</p><p>Poe buried his face in his hand.</p><p>Finn squinted into the light.“Well, that’s lucky.”</p><p>“Lucky indeed!”Threepio raised a metallic arm to emphasize his point.“This festival is known for both its colorful kites, and its delectable sweets.”</p><p>The rest of the group turned to stare at See-Threepio.The protocol droid turned away and pretended to be very interested in the desert to his right.</p><p>Festival-goers threw small, carved statuettes into a flaming brazier.The Resistance team wove through crowds of celebrants swaying to the music.</p><p>“Not too much life, huh?” Rose asked Poe sarcastically.</p><p>Poe shot her a dirty look.</p><p>“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Rey said, staring around her in wonder.</p><p>Finn rejoined, “I’ve never seen so few Kyber crystals.”</p><p>BB-8 curiously examined some metal canisters spraying jets of yellow pigment into the air.</p><p>“There are always random First Order patrols in crowds like these,” said Poe.He turned to look behind him.“Keep your head down, Chewie.”Chewie, walking near the back of the group, dropped into a half-crouch.</p><p>Rey watched a pair of Aki-Akis cradling and bouncing their snub-nosed, bald babies.</p><p>“Change of plans,” Poe said.“Let’s split up.Rey, Beebee-Ate and I will search the Jedi temple for the Kyber crystals.Everyone else, pair up and try to find the informant.”</p><p>Rey, Poe, and BB-8 split off from the group and wandered past people wrangling unruly riding animals and carrying candies on poles over their backs.Rey drank in the sights, but then tensed as she spotted a trio of mechtroopers scanning the crowd ahead.Poe followed her gaze and put his hand on his blaster.</p><p>“No,” Rey said, pulling up her white hood and dragged Poe into a food vendor’s stall.They surveilled the troopers through hanging cloths.</p><p>The stall’s owner, an ancient female Utai, barked, “<em>Cassasan!Nep.Nep.</em>”She waved a bowl of clawfish soup in their direction.</p><p>“No.Not hungry,” Poe said, waving it away.</p><p>The pink-skinned peddler held out a steaming ladle to the pilot.“<em>Depee cassasan! </em>” she insisted in an offended tone.One of the mechtroopers seemed to be looking in their direction.</p><p>“Okay,” said Poe, taking the ladle.“Here.Just. . . <em>shhh.</em>”He drank.“Mmm.See?Mmmm.”His face turned red, and he coughed from the intense heat of the spicy dish.</p><p>The Utai and her friends laughed.“<em>Arno tow di? </em>” the shopkeeper asked.</p><p>“No, it’s good,” Poe said hoarsely.He coughed harder.The mechtrooper was moving towards them, attracted by the sound. . . .</p><p>Rey decided the situation called for drastic action.She grabbed Poe by his shirt and kissed him on the mouth, her hood obscuring his face.</p><p>From afar, the mechtrooper saw a pair of lovers surrounded by applauding Utai women.He moved on.</p><p>Rey and Poe pulled away from each other.They were both breathing heavily, for more reasons than one.It took a moment for them to recover.</p><p>“Did it work?” Rey asked.</p><p>“I mean, <em>I</em> think so,” Poe said.</p><p>Rey shot her eyes at the mechtroopers walking away.</p><p>“Oh,” said Poe, catching on.“So that wasn’t—”</p><p>“No,” Rey lied.</p><p>Rey and Poe looked at each other, wishing that the Force could stop time.</p><p>Hesitantly, Rey said, “We should—”</p><p>“Right.Yeah.”</p><p>They headed for the edge of the crowd, BB-8 beeping happily to himself.Skirting the throng, the trio soon came to the base of the stony slope leading up to the Jedi temple.A narrow path cut into the rock face zigzagged upwards.</p><p>After a long, arduous climb, they reached the top and got their first good look at the temple.It appeared to be carved directly out of the rock, without any visible seams.Three spires soared upwards out of the blocky structure.Two enormous stone doors faced them.</p><p>Rey stepped forward and used the Force to push the doors open.They swung back with a harsh, grinding creak.Rey, Poe, and BB-8 stared into the dark interior of the temple.Poe turned on a flashlight, casting a thin green beam of light onto sandy floors and rough walls.Rey activated her lightsaber and walked in, its blue glow lighting her path like a torch.Poe looked at its much brighter light and then at his own, which now seemed paltry in comparison.Peeved, he flipped his flashlight to reverse his grip on it and followed Rey into the darkness.</p><p> </p><p>Finn and Rose were hot and tired.They had searched what seemed like the entire festival, to no avail.Finally, they had taken shelter under a candy seller’s awning in exchange for buying some of his fluffy wares.</p><p>Finn was wiping sweat off his neck with a threadbare rag when someone dragged him off balance and pulled his hands behind his back.Beside him, Rose was similarly held by a man dressed in a brown uniform and a blast helmet.Finn recognized him from an intelligence report as a Corporate Sector Authority Security Police Officer.</p><p>“You’re fugitives from the Cantonica system,” one of the officers said.“You’re under arrest for escaping custody, animal theft, resisting arrest, destruction of property, and parking violation twenty-seven-bee-stroke-six.You have a right to remain silent.”</p><p>“You’re going to Stars’ End for a lo-o-ong time,” added the one holding Rose as as he removed a pair of handcuffs from his belt.</p><p>Suddenly, the first officer was lifted into the air by a large, furry arm.Chewbacca slammed him against the ground and roared.The other officer pulled a riot gun from his holster and pointed it at the Wookiee, but Rose twisted free of his one-handed grip.She zapped him with her electroshock prod and he fell, stunned.The first officer, who had been trying to rise to his feet, abruptly found himself with a Wookiee’s foot covering his face.Then Rose shocked him too.</p><p>“Oh, my,” said C-3PO, emerging from behind a stall.Despite his lack of discrete facial expressions, the droid still managed to radiate shock at the violence.He was, improbably, holding some sort of fried, scaly animal on a stick.Chewbacca grabbed the skewered beast from him.</p><p>“Just in time, Chewie,” Finn said.“Any sign of the informant?”</p><p>Chewbacca roared a negative through a mouthful of serpent-on-a-stick.</p><p>“Yeah, us neither,” said Rose.</p><p>Finn pointed at the unconscious Security Police Officers and asked, “What are we going to do with these guys?”</p><p> </p><p>Rey, Poe, and BB-8 had combed through the lower levels of the temple and were now ascending the tallest of the three towers.At the top of the spiral staircase, they climbed through a trapdoor into a small room, bare except for a wooden chest.Sunlight streamed through windows cut in the rock walls, illuminating dust floating in the air.</p><p>Rey rushed to the chest and knelt before it, but then her shoulders slumped.The box’s lid had been stoved in.It was empty.</p><p>“This is where they were kept.I can feel it.But they’re gone,” Rey said.</p><p>Poe bent and examined the wreckage of the chest.“Yup, looks like the scavengers got here long before us.”As soon as he said it, he knew it was a mistake.He tensed, expecting an explosion of anger, but Rey merely looked at him desolately.She collapsed to the floor, her back to the broken chest.</p><p>“This was a waste of time.I shouldn’t have come here.”</p><p>Poe attempted to cheer her up.“Hey, there’s still the informant.We can still—”</p><p>“<em>You don’t understand</em>,” Rey said fiercely.“My presence puts you all in danger.”</p><p>“So? They want to find me too.”</p><p>“It’s different.You’re not the <em>last Jedi</em>.”Poe was surprised by the bitterness in her voice.“I never wanted this.To be the person everyone is looking to, to save them.To know that if you fail, the hope of the galaxy dies.”</p><p>Poe knelt before her and took her shoulders.“Look, I—I don’t know a lot about Jedi stuff.But I do know that you have friends.The First Order wins by making us think we’re alone.But we’re not alone.Even if we fail, others will rise up and take our place.”Poe paused.“I’ll be here for you, Rey.Whatever happens.”</p><p>Rey smiled and then hugged him.Poe held her lightly, but Rey clung to him like a lifeline.</p><p>BB-8 beeped at them from the other side of the room.Rey extricated herself from their embrace and crossed over to him.</p><p>“Yeah, I see it,” she said, kneeling.</p><p>The droid extended a nozzle and blew compressed air at a pile of sand, revealing the corner of a book.Rey picked it up and shook the sand out of its pages.</p><p>“See?We found something,” Poe remarked.</p><p>BB-8 looked from Poe to Rey.Unbeknownst to any of them, his antenna was transmitting an encoded message on a First Order frequency.Near the edges of the Bonadan system, a probe droid had picked up the signal and relayed it to the First Order Capitol.The message lit up a bored technician’s screen, shaking him out of his late afternoon stupor.He reported it to the chief comms officer, who in turn reported it to the second-in-command of the First Order military.</p><p> </p><p>A loud knocking awoke Chancellor Armitage Hux from a dream in which he was engaged in a vicious screaming match with Kylo Ren.He stumbled out of bed, rubbing grit from his eyes, and heaved open the door to his quarters.</p><p>“What is it?” he snapped.</p><p>Commander Sellik was standing in the corridor, a surprised look on his face.He had never seen his superior officer in his pyjamas.He quickly regained his calm.“Sir, one of our probes picked up the droid’s signal.We’ve found them.”</p><p>“Ready my ship,” Hux commanded.“I want to witness their extinction myself.”</p><p>“Shall I inform the Supreme Leader?”</p><p>“No,” said Hux.“Let Kylo and the girl fulfill the empty promises of their ancient religion.In the end they’ll destroy each other, as Jedi and Sith always have.Then we will rise.Strong, <em>decisive</em>.Ready to bring <em>true order</em> to the galaxy.”</p><p>Commander Sellik eyed Hux, unnerved by his intensity.</p><p>“Alert the local troops and prepare the attack,” said Hux.Then he shut the door and began to pull on his uniform.</p><p> </p><p>Rey, Poe, and BB-8 walked up to Finn, Rose, Chewbacca, and C-3PO.Finn and Rose were carrying a large bundle of fabric between them, while the Wookiee had another slung over his shoulder.</p><p>“What’d we miss?” Poe asked, eyeing the colorful cloth.</p><p>“Not much,” said Finn.“Some guys tried to arrest us.”</p><p>One of the rolls of cloth started yelling something in a muffled voice.Rose punched it.The shouting stopped.</p><p>“We haven’t found the informant,” Finn said, seemingly oblivious to Rose attacking textiles next to him.</p><p>Rey sighed.“We didn’t find any Kyber Crystals.”</p><p>“So, what do we do now?” Finn asked, looking at Poe.</p><p>“Freeze!”</p><p>A single stormtrooper was pointing a blaster at them, moving it back and forth to cover them all.“Hold it right there,” he ordered.Into his helmet, he said, “I’ve located the Resistance fugitives.All units report to—ahhh!”An arrow had buried itself in his visor.</p><p>The Resistance fighters turned to see where the arrow had come from.They saw a figure wearing a metal helmet and black robes that folded back to reveal a flowery yellow lining.He was holding a crossbow in his right hand.The masked being scanned the crowd for more troopers and then said in a distorted voice, “Follow me.”</p><p>Finn, Rey, and Chewbacca dumped their burdens to the ground.They and the other Resistance members followed him through the festival to a treadable, a boxy metal vehicle surrounded by two giant treads. </p><p>“Hurry,” he said.</p><p>The dimly lit interior of the machine was festooned with nets, ropes, chains, and baskets hanging from the ceiling.The team climbed aboard as their mysterious benefactor opened a slit in the wall between the passenger compartment and the driver.A hairy alien with shining, three-lensed blue eyes turned to look through the slit.</p><p>“Meet at Tobiah,” the masked man instructed.</p><p>“Okay!” the serpentine driver shouted in a gruff voice.</p><p>“How’d you find us?” Finn asked the informant.</p><p>The man removed his helmet.It was Lando Calrissian.“Wookiees stand out in a crowd,” he said, eyes twinkling.</p><p>Chewbacca warbled happily and hugged Lando.</p><p>“It’s good to see you too, old buddy!” Lando exclaimed, grinning.</p><p>C-3PO said, “This is General Lando Calrissian.”</p><p>Rey looked back at the protocol droid.“We know who he is, Threepio.”</p><p>“It is. . . an <em>honor</em>, General,” said Finn.</p><p>“I’m pleased to meet all of you nice young folks as well.Especially you, sweetheart,” Lando said smoothly, kissing Rose’s hand.She opened her mouth, an expression of equal parts surprise and joy on her face.</p><p>“All right, all right,” said Finn, taking her hand from him.</p><p>“General Calrissian, what’s the intelligence you’ve got for us?” Poe asked.</p><p>“Ah, yes,” said Lando.“I have sources in the First Order.They tell me there’s a rift among the officers.A number of warlords and tycoons are unhappy with Kylo Ren’s leadership, and they’re pushing to have him removed and replaced.”</p><p>“An internal struggle inside the First Order could be just the opportunity we need,” Poe strategized.</p><p>“There’s something else,” Lando said, his tones hushed.“There are rumors of a mysterious figure running the First Order behind the scenes.They say he’s some sort of dark side user.”</p><p>A grim silence descended upon the band.They exchanged worried glances.</p><p>Finally Rey spoke.“We’re looking for Kyber crystals,” she said.“We need them to send a message to the galaxy.We thought there were some in the Jedi temple here on Bonadan, but they were gone.”</p><p>“I know who has them,” said Lando.</p><p>“You do?” said Finn.“Who?”He looked around as if he expected the person to spring out from a dark corner.</p><p>“Her name’s Nomi,” the General responded.“She’s a navigator—and force-sensitive.Spice diggers used to pay her to find deposits on asteroids.”</p><p>“She worked with spice miners?” Rose asked incredulously.“Can we trust her?”</p><p>“She’s a little off, but she’s no friend to the First Order.Her den is out past Lurch Canyon.”</p><p>“Where’s that?” inquired Poe.</p><p>“We should be coming up on it now,” Lando said, looking out a barred window partly obscured by a cluster of small red berries.“The First Order could be here any moment.Go!”</p><p>The Resistance team began to exit the treadable, one at a time.</p><p>Chewbacca roared at Lando to take care of himself.</p><p>“You too, Chewie,” his old friend responded.</p><p>Rey turned to leave, but then stopped.She said, “Leia needs pilots, General.”</p><p>“My flying days are long gone,” said Lando.“But do me a favor. . . give Leia my love.”</p><p>“You should give it to her yourself,” Rey said.“Thank you.”Then she leapt out the door.</p><p> </p><p>Nomi’s den was a cylindrical cottage-like structure built atop a raised platform of rock.A few paces beyond it, the ground fell away into a jagged canyon.</p><p>The inside of the building was occupied by a single circular room draped in colorful silks.Devoted followers, seekers of advice, and sightseers sat near the walls, smoking pipes and vaporizer devices.An electroharpist played ethereal, keening music.</p><p>In the middle of the room, the stone floor had hundreds of small marbles fitted into rounded depressions.A fluffy pillow rested on them.On the pillow sat Nomi, a tiny, wide-eyed alien the size of a small human child.She consulted quietly with a Rodian couple on the brink of divorce.They cried, touching antennae.</p><p>The crew of the <em>Falcon </em>entered through a curtain of hanging beads and took in the surroundings.</p><p>“Easy on the details,” Poe said.“She doesn’t have to know who we are or why we’re here.Just what we need.”</p><p>Nomi smiled past the Rodians at the group of Resistance members by the entryway.“A Jedi,” she said.“The last.”</p><p>Everyone in the chamber turned to look at them.</p><p>“Or this,” Poe said testily.“We can do it this way.”</p><p>Nomi nodded to the couple before her and touched their chests.“Go.”She spoke to Rey.“Come.Sit.The Jedi and the friends.”</p><p>The gallery of observers made conspiratorial asides.</p><p>“If you don’t mind, I would prefer to stay here,” C-3PO said quietly, looking nervously at the marbles set in the floor.</p><p>“All right,” said Rey.She and the others in the group approached Nomi.</p><p>“Remove your footwear,” the alien said.</p><p>They did so, with the exception of Chewbacca and BB-8, who weren’t wearing any.The marbles felt cool, hard, and slippery under their bare feet.They sat.</p><p>“You seek Kyber crystals.”</p><p>“Yes,” Rey agreed.</p><p>“You seek them for what purpose?To bring healing, or destruction?”</p><p>Rey considered this.She <em>did</em> plan to use the crystals to bring about violence. . . but it was necessary.At the same time, she felt that Nomi’s huge, dark eyes could see her very soul.There was no way she could lie to this being.</p><p>She said, “Might not some destruction be needed, for healing to occur?”</p><p>Nomi smiled.“The Jedi speaks truth.The crystals are here.”She produced a bag from under the pillow and opened it to reveal dozens of white Kyber crystals.</p><p>“Which ones do I take?”Rey asked.</p><p>“The crystals are living.They choose their own masters.You must hear the music of the crystal, find the sound that harmonizes with the music in yourself.”</p><p>Rey closed her eyes.She <em>could</em> hear a variety of tones, like a chorus of voices.She focused on the sounds that resonated most within her.She reached out.Two crystals rose from the bag and her hand closed around them.</p><p>Rey could hear Rose gasping and BB-8 beeping quietly behind her.She opened her eyes and looked at the crystals that lay in her palm.They were the same size and shape, but mirror images.</p><p>“The Jedi chooses wisely,” said Nomi.“A balanced pair, each the complement of the other.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Rey breathed.She rose to go, as did the others.</p><p>“Stay,” said Nomi.“You also seek a place.”</p><p>Rey sank to her knees.“Yes.”</p><p>“Mortis is the place.”</p><p>At the mention of Mortis, Poe frowned.“Look, we’re in a hurry—”</p><p>Nomi cut him off.“The man will not speak.”</p><p>Poe sat down beside Rey, his expression grim.</p><p>“The destination is very old,” Nomi said.“The first to know the Force.The first where the good was done.And the evil too.”</p><p>“How do I find it?” Rey asked.</p><p>“The destination lies within.The power of Skywalker will lead you.”</p><p>Rey’s forehead creased in puzzlement.“What do you mean the power—”</p><p>“The mouth of the Jedi stops and the mind makes the picture,” said Nomi.“The Force fills the Jedi and reveals the destination.”The tiny marbles in the floor rose into the air, forming a three-dimensional map of the galaxy.</p><p>The Resistance team stared at the marbles floating around them in awe.</p><p>“The eyes close,” Nomi continued.“Only the Jedi knows the path. . . .”Her voice grew distant as Rey fell deep into meditation.</p><p>
  <em>Mortis.Snow on the peak.Flaming autumn leaves in the valley below.</em>
</p><p>Nomi’s voice cut through the vision.“There the two will meet.Drawn together by the Force.”</p><p>
  <em>The temple.Two thrones in the rock.A well of light, pulsing from deep within the mountain below.</em>
</p><p>“The dark side and the light.”</p><p>
  <em>A cloaked figure standing before Rey, his mask familiar, unmistakable.</em>
</p><p>“Then she will make the sacrifice.”</p><p>A<em> flash of red light.</em></p><p>Rey snapped out of her vision.</p><p>“Wait, what?” asked Poe.</p><p>A flat, black, oval stone drifted from the edge of the marble planetarium and into Nomi’s palm.</p><p>“What do you mean, sacrifice?” Poe asked hotly.</p><p>Nomi handed the stone to Geb, a tiny Anzellan astroscrivener seated at a tiny easel.He painted a starmap of the chosen location.</p><p>“The Jedi must go alone,” said Nomi.</p><p>“No, hold on a second,” Poe said.Finn put a hand on his friend's shoulder.</p><p>“Map is-a ready,” Geb the astroscrivener said as he tore the drawing off his easel, limped to Rey and handed it over.</p><p>“This map will lead you to the starting point of your journey,” said Nomi.“Only those who are meant to can find Mortis.”</p><p>Rey took the star map from the tiny artist and said, “Thank you.”She stood.</p><p>“We’re not leaving.What did she see?” Poe asked.He turned to Rey.“What did you see?”</p><p>“The Jedi will make the journey.The journey will answer the question.”</p><p>“<em>What question?</em>”Poe asked, agitated.“Can we all just take a deep breath and talk about this?”</p><p>Rey paused at the door.“Is there another path?”</p><p>Nomi stared at Rey, her wide eyes unreadable.“There is always another path.”</p><p> </p><p>Outside the den, Poe confronted Rey.“You’re not going to Mortis.”</p><p>Finn was staring into the distance.“Do you hear that?” he asked.</p><p>“Master Luke said I had to,” Rey told Poe.“The fate of the galaxy depends on it.”</p><p>“Guys. . .” said Finn.</p><p>Poe was implacable.“The fate of the galaxy also depends on us defeating the First Order.We need you with us, not on some wild bantha chase.”</p><p>“But if Kylo gains the power he seeks, he’ll be unstoppable!”</p><p>“<em>Then I’m going with you! </em>”</p><p>“GUYS!” Finn shouted.</p><p>Rey and Poe looked up from their argument to see Finn pointing at the sky.A line of TIE Fighters and Atmospheric Assault Landers were descending to planetfall.</p><p>“It’s the First Order.They’ve found us.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Tor Valum</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h2>Chapter Six</h2>

<h2>Tor Valum</h2>

<p>Kylo’s TIE whisper entered the atmosphere of Remnicore, a cold black planet veined with silver.The starfighter sped over floes of white lava and frozen, stunted trees.In the distance, the rays of the setting sun glinted off a ruined building in the shape of a giant black cube driven into the ground point-first.</p>
<p>Inside the cockpit, Kylo struggled to keep his concentration focused on his flying.Since being injured by the Sith holocron, he had been ravaged by visions and voices.Currently, Supreme Leader Snoke murmured in the back of his mind, his words indistinct.Suddenly, the voice snapped into focus.</p>
<p>“<em>—the power of Mortis! </em>” Snoke rasped.</p>
<p>Kylo involuntarily jerked at the controls.His ship grazed a ridge and plowed into the obsidian terrain of a wide valley.</p>
<p>Kylo emerged from the ship battered and bloodied.His left arm didn’t seem to work anymore, and his arms, chest and legs were covered in scrapes and burns.In his right hand, he held his torn, singed cape, which he had used to smother an electrical fire started by the crash.</p>
<p>The Supreme Leader of the First Order staggered forward a few steps and then collapsed face down, his cape billowing out beside him like a shroud.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kylo Ren jerked awake.He was lying on a bed of straw and wood, staring at a rough, rocky ceiling.The warm light of a torch flickered at the right edge of his vision.He was unsure of how long he had been unconscious; was it hours? Days?</p>
<p>He lifted his head slightly to take in his surroundings.On the left side of his bed were several large pots, as well as a stone table, which his mask and several small vessels rested upon.Two gaps in the rock wall to his right led into other portions of what was apparently a cave system.Near the foot of his bed stood a diminutive figure clad in robes and a head covering that seemed to be sized for a much larger being.The being had its back turned to Kylo.</p>
<p>Kylo sat up.His muscles ached and his head swam, but after a moment he gained enough of a grip on himself to survey his injuries.They seemed to have had some sort of greenish salve applied to them, after which they had been bandaged.His left arm was wrapped in a cast of stiffened wrappings.Kylo peeled one of the bandages on his chest up enough to see that the wound was still raw.<em>Not days, then</em>.</p>
<p>The figure at the foot of the bed had noticed that Kylo was awake.It turned towards him, revealing that its tan headscarf almost enveloped its head.A narrow gap in the cloth showed the gray skin of the creature’s face.Its flat nostrils were placed directly in between large, wide set black eyes.</p>
<p>The alien called out in a language unintelligible to Kylo.A handful of other creatures of the same species entered the rock chamber from the openings in the right wall.They milled around Kylo, examining his wounds, changing his bandages, and grinding spices with a mortar and pestle.One proffered a clay pot full of a steaming soup.Kylo accepted the soup and let the beings fuss around him.</p>
<p>After he had finished eating, Kylo attempted to communicate with the beings.He pointed at himself and said, “Kylo.”</p>
<p>“Kah-lo,” they intoned.“Kah-lo!”</p>
<p>The largest of the creatures, who seemed to be some sort of chief, pointed at himself and said, “Wommel.”Then he pointed to each of his fellows in turn and said, “Wommel.”Apparently the name of his species (or his tribe-Kylo wasn’t sure there was much of a difference) was Wommel.He was unable to determine if they had personal names.</p>
<p>Kylo donned his helmet and slung his tattered cape over his back.Through hand signs, he indicated to the Wommels that he wished to be on his way and that he was grateful for their help.They jabbered at him and led him to the entrance of their cave.Kylo stepped out into the night.</p>
<p>The Wommels’ cave was in the valley wall nearest to Kylo’s downed TIE, from which he summoned VX-20.The droid’s display told him the time: less than half a day since his crash.Together, the man and the probe droid set off for the cuboid building at the other end of the valley.A deep canyon stretched towards and cut through the edifice, as though a beam of energy had cloven through building and ground alike. </p>
<p>Kylo Ren wondered about the Wommels’ actions as he walked.They must have known that he was potentially dangerous.They could have killed him or merely left him for dead, but instead they used their own, no doubt scarce, resources to heal him.They must have done it out of. . . kindness.Kylo was surprisingly moved.</p>
<p>As Kylo neared the structure, he passed the skeletons of fell war beasts, empty suits of armor, and robes draped over broken shields.Banners and flags fluttered in the chill breeze.A Sith helmet lay on the ground, a skull moldering within.</p>
<p>VX-20 beeped as a red light flashed on its surface.The droid had detected a lifeform.</p>
<p>The doors of the fortress opened inwards.Kylo lowered his hand and entered.He removed his lightsaber from his belt and activated it as he passed between huge stone statues looming ominously out of the darkness.</p>
<p>Kylo crept warily into a vast circular chamber stacked with broken spacecraft parts, ancient military equipment and piles of silver ore.A glowing white fire crackling in a stone pit cast a dim, ghastly light over the scene.He drew closer to the flame.</p>
<p>“What do you seek?” A voice whispered.</p>
<p>Kylo spun and raised his lightsaber.“Reveal yourself,” he said.</p>
<p>The largest mound of junk moved.Spindly but powerful arms pulled the detritus aside, revealing the head and tense, muscular torso of a huge black creature.The tatters of what might once have been a cloak clung to a broad, triangular head.Six beady black eyes set on fin-like projections to either side of the creature’s flat, rugose face examined Kylo Ren.</p>
<p>Kylo stood his ground.“I seek the Sith Master Tor Valum.”</p>
<p>“I am neither Sith nor Master,” the thing said.“But I was once called Tor Valum.”</p>
<p>“You trained Darth Plagueis?” asked Kylo.</p>
<p>Tor Valum said, “That name means nothing to me.”</p>
<p>Kylo’s lightsaber darted out, stopping centimetres from Tor Valum’s taut, leathery skin.“Does your life?” he asked angrily.</p>
<p>Tor Valum smiled, revealing sharp, blackened teeth.“You threaten me with death.How amusing.”</p>
<p>“You are weak,” Kylo said.“I feel nothing.”</p>
<p>“You feel what I allow you to feel.<em>Child</em>.”The creature extended a long, bony finger, pointing to Kylo’s mask.“Reveal yourself.”</p>
<p>Kylo lowered his lightsaber and removed his helmet.The glowing red cracks of the mask mirrored the crimson traceries of his corrupted veins.</p>
<p>Tor Valum appeared oddly entertained.“Mmmmm,” he sighed.“You wish to obtain the power of those who came before; to take your place among the Gods of Mortis.”</p>
<p>Kylo admitted, “I do.”</p>
<p>“To rule the galaxy without armies, without starships.”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“Your master taught you well.Yet you fear the frailty of your vessel.”Tor Valum leaned closer.“You <em>need</em> this power.”</p>
<p>Kylo’s jaw tensed.He nodded.</p>
<p>“Kneel before me,” said Tor Valum.</p>
<p>The red lightsaber shut off.Kylo knelt.</p>
<p>“You call yourself a Sith,” Valum intoned.“But the Sith are unrepentant, remorseless.You are haunted by the past, by your very existence.”</p>
<p>“I have no regrets,” Kylo said sharply.</p>
<p>“You lie.Until you confront your past, your fate will be the same as theirs.”Tor Valum motioned to the battlefield in the valley below, where empty Jedi Knight and Sith Marauder armor lay side by side, surrounded by the withered husks of men and animals.</p>
<p>“The Living Force is nourishment.The more one consumes, the stronger one becomes.To take life. . . is to cheat death.”The creature lifted his body with his arms and walked forward on them.</p>
<p>Kylo studied his strange new master.“Teach me,” he said.</p>
<p>Tor Valum grinned once more.“With pleasure.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Pursuit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h2>Chapter Seven</h2><h2>Pursuit</h2><p>Two old Aki-Akis sat side by side atop a hill.They looked up as the crew of the <em>Millennium Falcon</em> crested the rise and ran past, C-3PO shuffling along hurriedly in the rear.In the middle distance, a line of ships descended from a Star Destroyer hanging above.</p><p>“There!Those speeders,” Poe said, pointing at a pair hanging from a metal docking station at the edge of the festival.The group ran past some sort of metal-encased beast to them.Poe dropped to the ground underneath a blue transport skimmer and began working on the underbelly.Rose opened a panel in the side of a red speeder and rewired it.</p><p>C-3PO stumbled to a halt.“No need to worry, I made it,” he said, waving his metal arms.</p><p>The blue speeder coughed and spat dust out of its triangular front grille.Poe scrambled to his feet and turned as he heard shouts and screams from the midst of the festival.Solonny Ren strode menacingly through the crowd towards them, Ott and Lorl shoving aside celebrants on either side of her.</p><p>“We gotta go!” Poe called.</p><p>Rose, Rey, Chewbacca and BB-8 had already set off aboard the red skimmer.Finn and C-3PO got onto the blue speeder behind Poe and sped away.</p><p>A First Order Jet trooper standing atop a rocky outcropping watched the two skimmers heading in the direction of the city, leaving twin trails of dust in their wakes.He lifted a white comlink towards his helmet and reported, “I’ve spotted the fugitives.”</p><p> </p><p>The Resistance-commandeered skimmers zipped across the sandy plain.Green blaster bolts flashed by them, one hitting the blue skimmer.Finn lost his balance and Poe ducked.</p><p>Rey looked behind them.A pair of First Order Treadspeeders were tearing across the desert, unloading their side mounted laser cannons at the skimmers.Rey pulled out the blaster pistol Han Solo had given her and fired at them.Chewbacca joined her with his bowcaster, but their shots were absorbed by the treadspeeder bikes’ shields.BB-8 beeped worriedly.</p><p>One of the treadspeeders’ metal bodies sprang upwards, catapulting a jet trooper seated behind the driver into the air.The other speeder executed the same maneuver a moment later.Chewbacca growled unhappily.</p><p>C-3PO pointed at the jet troopers soaring after them and shouted, “Ah, they <em>fly</em> now!”</p><p>Poe looked over his shoulder.“Jet troopers!I hate these guys.”</p><p>Rose banked her skimmer to the right, while Poe peeled off towards a canyon.The jet troopers began to fire explosive rounds into the desert ahead of the rounded red skimmer, the blasts blowing sand into the air.Rose veered between the explosions while Rey activated one of her lightsaber’s blades, deflecting blaster bolts with her left hand while returning fire with her right.</p><p>The blue speeder zoomed down the narrow canyon.</p><p>“Did we lose ‘em?” Poe asked.</p><p>Finn shouted over the engine noise.“Looks like it.”</p><p>“Excellent job, sir!” praised C-3PO.</p><p>One of the treadspeeder bikes jumped off a low hill and entered the canyon.It fired.The blue skimmer swayed as it was struck again.</p><p>“Terrible job, sir,” chided C-3PO.</p><p>Rose piloted her speeder between two lines of thin metal poles, dodging the other treadspeeder bike’s fire.BB-8 examined a metal canister leaning against the back of the craft.He beeped a question.</p><p>“Not now, Beebee-Ate,” Rey told the droid.</p><p>The astromech tapped a circular indentation in the metal drum with one of his arms, producing sparks.After a few tries, he punctured the casing and yellow powder began to leak from it.The canister twirled into the air before exploding.</p><p>The treadspeeder pursuing them drove directly into the cloud of pigment.The driver tried futilely to wave it away.Unable to see the terrain, he careened over a rocky ridge and flew into the air.</p><p>Rose swerved, giving Rey a shot at the treadspeeder.Rey took it, pumping blaster fire into the exposed underside of the enemy vehicle, which blew apart.</p><p>“Never underestimate a droid,” Rey said as Rose gunned the engine and sped away.The burning wreck of the treadspeeder fell to the ground behind them.The jet troopers left white trails of vapor behind them as they continued the chase.</p><p>The other treadspeeder still hounded Poe, Finn, and C-3PO.Finn occasionally returned fire, more in hopes of keeping the enemy driver off balance than out of any real hope of damaging the bike, which rolled over or leapt all obstacles.A shot from the First Order speeder struck a pole in the middle of the skimmer.Finn ducked into a crouch.</p><p>A coil of rope hanging next to Finn caught his attention.He grabbed the metal hook attached to one end of the rope and threw it at the ground ahead of the treadspeeder.It caught in the speeder bike’s track, pulling the rope after it.The treadspeeder shuddered as its internal mechanisms sparked and flamed.</p><p>Finn tied the other end of the rapidly uncoiling rope to the blue skimmer’s central pole.“Poe?” he called.</p><p>Poe braked and pivoted the skimmer simultaneously.The treadspeeder bike swung around on the end of the rope and crashed into the canyon wall, where it exploded.Finn, Poe, and even C-3PO whooped and cheered as they left the canyon.</p><p>Chewbacca scored a bulls-eye on one of the jet troopers.The soldier screamed, hit the ground, and rolled before lying still.The red skimmer passed the trooper, following the poles as they curved to run parallel to a canal.</p><p>Poe pulled up beside them.“Did we get all of them?” he asked.</p><p>The final jet trooper flew into view, firing his blaster.He was met by a barrage of fire from the crews of both skimmers.One of the bolts struck the trooper in the chest, sending him corkscrewing through the air.He slammed into a cliffside and blossomed into a fireball.</p><p>“Keep following the canal,” Poe said.“It leads straight to the city.”</p><p>Suddenly, an explosion rocked the desert, the blast wave launching both skimmers skyward.The Resistance crew splashed into the canal as the <em>Knife 9</em> zipped by overhead.</p><p>“Will the agony ever end?” moaned C-3PO as he sank into the water.Chewbacca grabbed him and began paddling towards shore.</p><p>A double-masted razorsail catamaran floated on the water a few metres away, tied to one of the metal poles.Poe swam to the boat’s ladder and climbed aboard.Finn and Rose followed him and untied the craft while Chewbacca pulled C-3PO and BB-8 on board.</p><p>“Get on!” Poe called to Rey.</p><p>“No,” said Rey.“Get to the <em>Falcon</em>.I’ll hold them off.”</p><p>Poe looked stricken.</p><p>“Go!” Rey shouted.</p><p>Finn tugged Poe’s arm.The pilot took the helm.He threw a glance over his shoulder before activating the razorsail’s turbofan and speeding away.</p><p> </p><p>The <em>Steadfast</em> bore down upon Bonadan as two more Resurgent-class Star Destroyers arrived from hyperspace, flanking it.Aboard the <em>Steadfast </em>’s bridge, Hux looked upon the globe shining beyond the viewport.</p><p>“Obliterate any ships leaving the planet!” the Chancellor commanded.He turned to the gunnery captain.“Charge the primary weapon!”</p><p> </p><p>Rey looked at the horizon, where a tiny dot crept into view from behind a dark hill.She focused on her breathing.When she could make out the outline of the approaching ship, Rey removed her lightsaber from her belt and activated one of its blades.</p><p>The <em>Knife 9</em> drew closer, skimming along the surface of the desert.Hattaska Ren piloted the vessel with cold precision, while Solonny, Jaedec, Ott, and Lorl sat in surrounding cockpit chairs.The red-tinted viewport threw a ghastly light on the Knights of Ren.</p><p>Rey watched calmly as the craft accelerated towards her.She dropped into a crouch, facing away from the ship, her lightsaber ready at her side.</p><p>The <em>Knife 9</em> was almost touching the ground as it streaked towards the Jedi.Rey looked over her shoulder, judging speed and distance.Then she began to run.</p><p>The Knights’ ship drew closer and closer.Just before it reached her, Rey leapt upwards.She seemed to hang in the air as her lightsaber sliced through the <em>Knife 9</em>’s left wing where it connected to the ship’s hull.Rey landed on one knee in the cloud of sand kicked up by the vessel’s passage.</p><p>The left wing of the <em>Knife </em>9 sagged, the partly severed attachment point unable to support its weight.Hattaska Ren looked at his instruments in alarm as the ship shook.Finally, the damaged wing broke off completely.The transport collided with the ground and flipped end over end before bursting into flames.</p><p>Rey rose to her feet as the cloud of dust dissipated.She shut off the lightsaber and turned to head for the city, but a movement in the distance caught her eye.Through a haze of heat, she watched the Knights of Ren emerge from the smoking wreckage of the <em>Knife 9</em>.They stalked slowly towards her.</p><p>Rey looked up as she heard a familiar whine of engines.The <em>Millennium Falcon</em> swooped towards her from the hills surrounding the city, halting just above the ground.</p><p>“Hold her steady,” Poe shouted to Chewbacca, seated beside him in the cockpit.“Finn, move fast.”</p><p>Finn stood on the lowered boarding ramp.“Rey, come on,” he yelled, beckoning with his arms.</p><p>Dozens of TIE Fighters screeched towards the <em>Falcon</em>.“Locked on target,” one of the pilots said flatly.</p><p>Poe watched the approaching swarm of fighters silhouetted against the low-hanging sun.“Finn, we’re about to be cooked!”</p><p>Rey steeled herself and took a running jump.</p><p>“Come on, I got you,” Finn said as he grabbed Rey’s arm and pulled her aboard.</p><p>Poe pushed open the throttle and the <em>Millennium Falcon</em> shot away, TIE Fighters and green energy bolts whizzing after it.</p><p>Finn and Rey rushed to the gun wells, Finn taking the bottom turret while Rey swung into the top seat.They opened fire on the pursuing TIEs while Poe steered between two of the tall hills surrounding the city.</p><p>The <em>Falcon</em> shuddered as it was hammered by laser fire.Damage alarms blared.</p><p>Poe shouted over his shoulder, “Finn, Rey, you’re supposed to be getting rid of those things!”</p><p>Finn struck one of the TIE Fighters.It spiraled into a hill and exploded.“Got one!”</p><p>“How many left?”</p><p>“Too many,” Rey shouted back as she took out another TIE.</p><p> </p><p>The gunnery captain of the <em>Steadfast</em> reported, “Primary weapon charged, sir.”</p><p>“Fire!” ordered Chancellor Hux.</p><p>Black-helmeted gunners flipped switches and adjusted gauges, aiming the axial superlaser mounted under the Star Destroyer.The giant cannon fired a beam of blazing red energy towards Bonadan.Hux's pale face glowed in its light.</p><p> </p><p>The <em>Millennium</em> <em>Falcon</em> zoomed over the dark side of the planet.Chewbacca pointed into the darkness and growled.</p><p>“What?” Poe shouted, flipping a switch on a panel to his left to turn on the headlights. </p><p>Chewbacca roared and motioned.Poe turned in time to see the <em>Steadfast </em>’s superlaser crack open the ground before them with a thunderous roar.Chunks of ice, rock, and ice-covered rock spun upwards.The <em>Falcon </em>lurched as a large piece of debris struck its right side.Chewbacca growled.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know,” Poe said.</p><p>C-3PO stepped into the cockpit.“I’m afraid our shields cannot withstand a superlaser of this magnitude—”</p><p>“Tell me the odds, Threepio.I like numbers,” Rose requested.</p><p>While the protocol droid rattled off figures, Poe yelled into his headset.“We can’t make the jump with all this debris.”</p><p>The <em>Falcon</em> wove around the chunks of planetary crust.Several TIE Fighters collided with fragments of stone and blew up, but others evaded them, shooting at frozen rock and the Resistance ship alike.</p><p>Poe buzzed across the surface of a frost-covered mountain whirling into space.“Finn, we can boulder these TIEs,” Poe said.</p><p>“I was just thinking that,” Finn said, swiveling his turret and firing on the mountain.The peak blew apart, sending rocky projectiles wheeling into the path of the pursuing craft.Explosions flared behind the <em>Millennium Falcon</em> as it rocketed out of the debris field.</p><p>“We’re clear!” Rey shouted.</p><p>Poe told Chewbacca, “Punch it!”</p><p>The <em>Millennium Falcon</em> streaked into hyperspace.Five First Order TIEs disappeared after it.</p><p> </p><p>The <em>Falcon</em> dropped out of lightspeed on a twilit world covered in crystalline stalagmites sticking diagonally upwards.Poe heaved on the controls, narrowly missing one of the spikes.Stray fire from the First Order TIEs hit the stalagmites, sending shards of crystal flying.</p><p>“They’re still on us!” Finn yelled as the ship rocked.“How are they still on us?”</p><p>“They must have some sort of homing beacon hidden on board,” Poe fumed.“Rose, scan the ship.”</p><p>“Roger.”</p><p>Poe zigzagged between the huge spires.One of the TIE pilots tried to dodge Rey’s fire and ran directly into one of the projections.</p><p>Poe pulled the lightspeed lever back.Streaks of light appeared outside the cockpit, building into a bright flash that disappeared to reveal the blue cloudiness of hyperspace.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Finn asked.</p><p>“Lightspeed skipping,” answered Poe, stretching to press buttons on a side panel.</p><p>Rey shouted, “You can’t lightspeed skip the <em>Falcon</em>!”</p><p>“Actually, turns out you can,” Poe said.Control panels sparked as he pushed the lever forward and they dropped into the midst of a forest of tall, white towers.Huge mirrors attached to the buildings reflected the freighter and starfighters as the ships wove between them.One of the mirrors sliced an unlucky TIE in half.</p><p>Rose studied a portable scanner.“I can’t find any trace of a bug,” she said.</p><p>“Keep looking,” said Poe as the mirror-spires blurred into blueness.</p><p> </p><p>“Sir, they’ve left the Bonadan system,” an officer informed Chancellor Hux.</p><p>“Our fighters are still in pursuit,” said a comms technician.“They’re in the Crystal Chaos of Cardovyte.”</p><p>“Set course for Cardovyte!” Hux commanded.</p><p>“No, wait,” said the comms tech.“They’re on Ivexia now.”</p><p>“They must be lightspeed skipping,” Commander Sellik postulated.“There’s no way a ship this size can keep pace with them.”</p><p>“We don’t have to,” Hux said.“Order the <em>Relentless</em> to set course for Ivexia.Tell the <em>Xyston</em> to await my orders.”</p><p> </p><p>A band of children rode fathiers along a cliffside overlooking the ocean.They cheered as the <em>Millennium Falcon</em> swept past in the skies above.One of the children, a boy wielding a javelin made from a broom, lifted a silver ring with an inlaid Rebel Alliance starbird in salute.</p><p>Three remaining TIE Fighters dropped out of hyperspace.Finn grazed one of them. The starfighter crashed onto the beach, its flaming, wingless cockpit rolling across the sand.</p><p>“I’ve got something!” Rose shouted.“There’s a transmission being beamed from this ship.”</p><p>“How do I shut it down?” Poe asked.</p><p>“It’s not coming from the ship itself,” she said.“It’s coming from. . . Beebee-Ate?”</p><p>Poe jerked the hyperspace handle back and then forward.They were now racing through a murky green nebula.</p><p>“Okay, Beebee-Ate,” Rose said, kneeling before the droid.“I’m going to have to turn you off for a bit.”</p><p>BB-8 beeped his assent and bobbed his dome, before falling silent as Rose found a switch on its underside.The lights of his metal body went dark.</p><p>The <em>Millennium Falcon </em>rolled, dodging enemy fire.The triangular maw of an immense worm-like creature reared out of the emerald mists before it.</p><p>“Last jump, maybe forever,” said Poe.</p><p>C-3PO screamed as the creature prepared to engulf them.</p><p>Poe shouted, “Hold on!” as he threw back the lever once more.The <em>Millennium Falcon </em>shot past the monster and into hyperspace as the two remaining TIE Fighters crashed into its throat.The creature closed its three-tusked mouth over them and dove back into the green gloom.</p><p> </p><p>The <em>Steadfast</em> dropped out of hyperspace into the Typhonic Nebula.</p><p>Chancellor Hux stared into the clouds.“Well, where are they?” he snapped.</p><p>“Sir, the droid’s signal cut off a few dozen ticks before we arrived,” a comms tech informed him.“Their last known position was here in the Megafauna Chasm.”</p><p>An officer reported, “We’ve lost all contact with Hush and Incarnadine Squadrons.”</p><p>“No sign of the Corellian freighter,” said a sensor technician.</p><p>“So they’ve slipped away again,” said Hux.He allowed himself a moment to stew.He had been on the cusp of catching the last Jedi, her companions, and the <em>Millennium Falcon</em> to boot.If he had managed such a feat, when both the Supreme Leader and his precious knights had failed, it would have been irrefutable proof that Kylo Ren should be taking orders from <em>him</em>, not vice versa.Now the opportunity for such a coup had been snatched from his grasp.</p><p>The voice of a comms officer disrupted his brooding.“Sir, we’re receiving a message from Coruscant.Highest priority channel.”</p><p>Hux said wearily, “Put it through.”</p><p>“It’s just a line of text,” said the technician.“It says, ‘Chancellor.Return to the Capitol.’The odd thing is, there’s no signature code.”</p><p>Hux stiffened.“Repeat that.”</p><p>“I said there’s no signature code.”</p><p>Hux stared blankly into the verdant nebula.</p><p>“Sir?Are you all right?” Commander Sellik asked.</p><p>“Of course I am,” Hux said testily.“Set course for Coruscant.Immediately.”</p><p>The bridge buzzed with activity as Hux turned on his heel and left, lost deep in thought.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Stranded</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h2>Chapter Eight</h2><h2>Stranded</h2><p>The <em>Millennium Falcon</em> trailed smoke as it descended towards a snowy world.The ship wobbled unsteadily over a glassy, frozen ocean before crashing into the ice.</p><p>Poe Dameron unfolded himself from his seat.Most of the battered freighter’s instruments had died on the way down.One of the corridor lights blinked hesitantly and then went out.</p><p>“You okay?” Poe asked his companions.</p><p>Chewbacca growled a yes.</p><p>“I’m just <em>fine</em>,” Rose said through clenched teeth, her knuckles white as she clung tightly to her chair.BB-8 sat motionlessly at her feet.</p><p>Poe pulled out his flashlight and shone it into the dark passageway.The tool seemed to be getting a lot of use today.He started down the corridor, Chewbacca following him.“Rey!Finn!”</p><p>C-3PO’s glowing yellow eyes appeared out of the darkness.“You didn’t say my name, sir, but I’m all right.”</p><p>Poe made his way to the gun wells in the middle of the ship.Rey, who had climbed partway down the ladder, let go and fell into his waiting arms.</p><p>“You all right?”</p><p>“Yeah,” she said.“Where’s Finn?”</p><p>Finn emerged from the rear of the ship.“I’m good.”</p><p>“Ah!Master Finn,” said See-Threepio.</p><p>Finn asked, “What is this place?”</p><p>“This isn’t the afterlife, is it?” C-3PO wondered.“Are droids allowed here?”</p><p>“All I saw on the way down was a lot of ice,” said Poe.“But I was trying to keep us from turning into pink smears on the ground.Thought we were goners.”</p><p>“We might still be,” Threepio suggested.</p><p>Poe said, “Let’s get out of the ship, scout around—”</p><p>He broke off as the <em>Falcon</em> listed violently to one side.The crew braced themselves against the walls.</p><p>C-3PO said, “Sir, it’s quite possible this afterlife is not entirely stable.”</p><p>“It’s worse than that,” Rose said, walking into the corridor.She had BB-8 cradled in her arms like an oversized metal baby.“Look down.”</p><p>Poe pointed his flashlight at the floor.Water trickled past their feet.</p><p>“All right, let’s just get out of here,” said Poe.“Everybody grab what you can and get to the top hatch.”</p><p>Rey ran to her cabin.By the light of her saber, she grabbed some books and shoved them into her satchel.She sprinted to the forward hatch, where Finn was pushing Chewbacca through the hatchway while Rose and Poe pulled him up by the arms.</p><p>The crew finally managed to heave the Wookiee out.The water was already up to Finn’s and Rey’s knees.Poe kneeled next to the hatch, holding out his hand.“Rey, Finn, c’mon.”</p><p>The <em>Millennium Falcon</em> lurched again.Poe jumped back as it slipped under the ice.Water poured through the hatch of the sinking ship, submerging Rey and Finn up to their necks.</p><p>“Take my hand,” Rey shouted.Finn grabbed her as she pushed through the aperture and launched herself into the frigid ocean.They swam upwards, heading for the hole in the ice.</p><p>“Finn!” Poe shouted, staring into the water.“Rey!”</p><p>The water was horribly still.Suddenly, Rey’s and Finn’s heads broke the surface, gasping for breath.Their friends dragged them onto the ice sheet.</p><p>Rey used the Force to pull the water out of Finn’s clothing, then her own.She waved her hand.The liquid splashed onto the ice.</p><p>“I can’t believe we lost Han’s ship,” Rey panted.She glared at Poe.“What were you thinking, lightspeed skipping?”</p><p>“Well, it got us out of there, didn’t it?”</p><p>“Poe, the compressor’s down!”</p><p>Finn stared at the sky.“You two. . .”</p><p>Poe said, “Oh, I know, I was there.”</p><p>“. . . every time.”</p><p>“Well now we’re stuck here on—”Rey turned to C-3PO.“Where are we, anyway?”</p><p>“I’m afraid such information is usually supplied by an astromech droid,” said C-3PO.“I merely translate—”</p><p>“—stuck here in the middle of nowhere with no ship and no way to call for help!” Rey shouted.Her voice reverberated across the ice field.</p><p>“Okay, guys, arguing won’t help us,” Finn said.“You said it yourself, Rey.We’ve got enough problems already without infighting.”</p><p>Rey and Poe looked at him.“You’re right,” Rey admitted after a moment.</p><p>“Let’s find some shelter,” Poe said, tiredly.“Then we can try to think our way out of this.”</p><p>The group was trekking across the ice towards a line of hills in the distance when something round and metallic caught Chewbacca’s attention.He plodded towards the object and barked at the others.They came up beside him, looking down at his find.It was the radar dish of the <em>Millennium Falcon</em>.</p><p>“It must have broken off when we crashed,” Poe said.His face brightened.“We can call for help!”</p><p>“What about the transmission blockade?” Finn asked.</p><p>Poe slapped his forehead.“Oh.Right.”</p><p>Rose pursed her lips.She felt the stirrings of an idea, but its final form remained frustratingly unclear.“Let’s bring it along,” she said.“I think I might be able to get around the jamming, but I need time to think.”</p><p>The Resistance band set off once more, Chewbacca rolling the dish along beside them.Soon they had reached the hills, which curved upwards into frost-covered uplands.A steep cliff sloped downwards from the tundra to the ice sheet.</p><p>The group made camp beside a large pile of rocks that broke the worst of the biting wind.Rey and Finn set about making a fire while Poe and Chewbacca attached the radar dish to a portable power supply and Rose sliced into BB-8’s programming.After working with the droid for a while, Rose called Poe over.</p><p>“I’ve found the problem,” Rose said.“There was a veil cipher inserted into Beebee-Ate’s code, which caused him to transmit a location signal.The First Order could detect it whenever they were within range of his antenna.I’ve deactivated the program.”</p><p>“How did he pick it up?” Poe asked.</p><p>“Based on Beebee’s log, it was uploaded when we were on the Moon of Kuat.”</p><p>“You mean,” Poe said, taken aback, “they could have found us when we were at Nirauan, or even on Ajan Kloss?”</p><p>“Technically, yes,” said Rose.“Their probes must never have been there when we were.”</p><p>“So. . . can we turn him on now?” Poe asked, raising his eyebrows.</p><p>“Yep,” Rose replied, flipping the droid’s power switch.BB-8 raised his dome and shook it as though to clear his mechanical mind after a long nap.</p><p>“Are you all right, pal?” Poe asked.The droid twirled in a circle and gave a cheerful beep.</p><p>Poe smiled.“Glad to hear it.”</p><p>Rose let the man and droid catch up and walked over to Chewbacca.“I have an idea,” she said.</p><p> </p><p>Poe walked up to Finn and Rose, who had successfully built a small blaze.The pilot plopped down on a flat rock.</p><p>“Well, I know where we are now,” he told them.“Beebee-Ate says we’re on the planet Wavett.”</p><p>“Wavett,” muttered Rey.“Great.”She removed a book from her satchel and walked away towards the rocks.</p><p>Poe looked at her retreating back and then turned to Finn.“Do you think I should—” he began.</p><p>“Probably best to leave her alone for now,” Finn advised.</p><p>Poe stared into the fire for a long while as the light faded from the sky.Finally he spoke.“She’s amazing,” he said.</p><p>Finn didn’t ask who Poe was talking about.He knew well enough.</p><p>“The things she can do. . . I can’t even imagine being capable of stuff like that,” Poe continued.“But she’s so hard on herself.When we were on Bonadan, she said she was responsible for the entire galaxy.”</p><p>“Doesn’t surprise me,” said Finn, thinking of his and Rey’s conversation just after the mission to Kuat.</p><p>Poe said, “I want to help her, but sometimes she just pushes me away.”</p><p>“All we can do is be here for her when she needs us,” Finn told him.</p><p>“I know,” said Poe.</p><p>They lapsed into silence again.</p><p>“You know, you and her are pretty much family to me now,” Poe ventured after a while.“You’re like the brother I never had, and Rey. . . well. . .” he trailed off lamely.</p><p>Finn wasn’t looking at him.He seemed lost in his own thoughts, the fire casting a flickering orange glow across his face.“I never had a family.When I was in the First Order I didn’t even have a proper name.”He looked up at Poe.“Rose and you two <em>are</em> my family.”</p><p>They were both ruminating over this when Rose and Chewbacca sat down at the fire.“Hey, guys!” Rose said cheerily.“We came up with a way to send a transmission.”</p><p>“Oh?” Poe inquired.</p><p>“We know that the First Order is able to send transmissions between systems somehow,” Rose explained.“Our best guess at how they do this is that the jammer is programmed to briefly unblock certain frequencies according to a complex algorithm.Their transmitters use the same algorithm to send the signal, hopping between the unjammed frequencies.” Rose said.</p><p>“Uh-huh. . .” prompted Poe, not quite seeing the significance of this.</p><p>“My examination of the veil cipher confirms this theory,” Rose said.“Beebee-Ate’s antenna isn’t strong enough to send signals across interstellar space, but whoever wrote the veil cipher couldn’t know where it would end up.Because it might have been uploaded to a starship or portable comm center with a long range, it was written to send signals according to the First Order’s frequency-hopping protocol.”</p><p>“Which means we can use the algorithm to send a signal too!” Finn exclaimed, kissing her on the cheek.“Rose, you’re a <em>genius</em>.”</p><p>“Aw, thanks,” Rose said, hugging him.“But a real genius, like Drusil Bephorin, would have been able to determine the algorithm by studying First Order transmissions a long time ago.”</p><p>Chewbacca roared.</p><p>“I concur with Chewbacca’s assessment,” C-3PO said.“You <em>are</em> quite clever, Mistress Tico.”</p><p>This time Rose merely blushed and murmured something that sounded like, “S’nothing.”</p><p>“So, have you sent the signal yet?” Poe asked.</p><p>“No,” said Rose.“There’s a chance this could tell the First Order where we are, and we wanted to make sure everyone else was onboard with the plan.”</p><p>Finn said, “We should go tell Rey then.”</p><p>“I heard,” Rey said.She stepped out of the shadows beyond the ring of firelight.</p><p>Poe asked, “And?”</p><p>“Do it,” said Rey.“I’m for whatever has a chance at getting us out of here.”</p><p>“Okay,” Rose said.“We’ll go send the distress call right now.”She and Chewbacca headed towards the makeshift transmitter.</p><p>“We should all get some sleep,” Poe said, looking up at the dark, star-studded sky.“It’s been a long day.”</p><p>“I’ll take first watch,” Rey volunteered.</p><p>Poe asked concernedly, “Are you sure?”</p><p>“I’ll be fine,” Rey said, hoping she would be.</p><p> </p><p>While her organic friends slept in their bedrolls, and her mechanical ones lay in low-power mode, Rey sat next to the fire, paging through the book she had found on Bonadan.Most of the sections she had read so far were about Force healing, a skill she had been studying of late.She and Leia had used the technique to heal the crystal that now powered her lightsaber, as it had powered Luke’s and his father’s before him.</p><p>Important and interesting as the text was, Rey’s concentration began to fail.Her mind wandered to thoughts of her parents.No one might be no one, but the pain of her long abandonment was still keen.She didn’t even know what her parents’ names had been.</p><p>Rey wondered if Finn cared about who his parents were.She lazily considered waking him up and asking him, but decided against it.He needed his sleep, and she could ask him tomorrow.Besides, she felt so tired just now. . . .</p><p>Rey’s eyes closed.She sank backwards and slipped into sleep.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Rey found herself in the bright, warm sands of Jakku.Wind whistled over the desert dunes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> A child’s voice screamed.Rey turned to see herself as she had been years ago, a little girl reaching out for her parents as Unkar Plutt dragged her away.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Come back!Wait!” the child cried, reaching out her hand.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Rey stepped towards the scene, her feet digging into the sand.Before her stood a lightly bearded man and a woman clad in a dark blue robe.The man was, with some difficulty, holding the woman back.Rey felt an instant shock of recognition.They were her parents.She tried to call out to them, but no sound emerged from her throat.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Rey’s mother slipped free of the arm around her and ran towards her daughter, but Rey’s father grabbed her and held her back.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> “No!” Rey’s father shouted.“We can’t!It’s too dangerous.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Rey’s mother ceased struggling.“Stay here!” she called, pain etched in a prematurely lined face.“Wait for us!We’ll come back.Understand?I promise we’ll come back.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Rey’s eyes watered, matching those of her younger self, as they both watched the transport ship carrying her parents rise into the sky.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> “Come back!” the girl screamed.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Rey jerked upwards, breathing heavily.The book she had been reading lay open on her lap.The fire guttered nearby.</p><p>“They were afraid,” Rey said, devastated by her vision.“Why were they afraid?”</p><p>No response emerged from the darkness.Rey walked along the edge of the cliff, the chill breeze cutting at her limbs and face.She looked out from the top of the precipice.Pinpoints of starlight in the sky above reflected off the glassy surface of the frozen sea below.</p><p>“Luke!” Rey shouted.“Tell me!Why were they afraid?”Her words were snatched away and muffled by the bitter wind.</p><p>“He can’t tell you, Rey,” a harsh, distorted voice said from behind her.“But I can.”</p><p>Rey spun, igniting her lightsaber reflexively.Kylo Ren stood before her, snow fluttering tranquilly around his image.</p><p>It was day on Remnicore.Kylo was standing near the Wommels’ cave, his back to his downed TIE whisper.“I know the rest of your story,” he said.</p><p>Rey turned away from him.</p><p>“Rey.”</p><p>Rey rounded on him, raising her lightsaber.“You’re lying.”</p><p>Kylo walked slowly towards her.“I never lied to you.”</p><p>Rey stepped backwards, halting at the cliff’s edge.She looked down at the vertiginous drop behind her.</p><p>“Your parents were no one,” Kylo continued.“They <em>chose</em> to be.Your mother was strong.Almost as strong as you."</p><p>Rey spat, “Don’t.”</p><p>“She could have become powerful indeed.But she was a <em>coward</em>,” Kylo said contemptuously.“She chose to marry a craftsman and spend her days trading scrap on a dustball.”</p><p>Rey seemed on the verge of tears.“I don’t <em>want</em> this.”</p><p>“I’ve been in your head,” said Kylo.“I know what happened to them.”</p><p>“No!” Rey shrieked, whirling towards him.Kylo dodged back before bringing his lightsaber up to block her next strike.Their blades locked, spitting sparks.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Rey’s mother kneels in a tent, hugging her daughter tightly.“Rey, be brave.” she says.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Her father rushes into the tent.He crouches next to them and tells Rey, “You’ll be safe here.I promise.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Rey shoved Kylo’s blade sideways.The two combatants circled each other.</p><p>“I don’t need you to tell me what happened.I <em>know</em> what you did,” Rey accused.“Deep down, I’ve always known.My parents didn’t sell me for drinking money.<em>They were hiding me from you.</em>”</p><p>Kylo seemed more intrigued than anything else.“So you remember.”</p><p>“You killed my parents, didn’t you?”</p><p>“You blame me for your life on Jakku,” Kylo rumbled.“You should thank me for it.You were safe.”</p><p>“Stop talking!” Rey shouted.She swung wildly at Kylo.He parried deftly.One of her attacks sliced into a basket of fruit gathered by the Wommels.Small red globes spilled across the cold, hard ground of Wavett.</p><p>Rey caught Kylo’s saber with her own and pushed it downwards.Snow sizzled and melted as the two beams of energy pierced the frost-covered earth.</p><p> </p><p>Violent sounds frayed at the edges of Finn’s awareness.He rolled over, trying to tune out the noise and return wholly to the bosom of sleep, only to feel someone shaking him.He cracked open his eyes to see Rose peering down at him grimly.</p><p>“Rey’s gone,” she said.</p><p> </p><p>Rey and Kylo slashed viciously at each other, then stepped away.</p><p>“You don’t know the whole story,” Kylo said.</p><p>Rey darted forward and struck out, her momentum carrying her past him.Kylo brushed her blow away.He turned slowly towards her.</p><p>Rey twirled her lightsaber, readying for another attack.“Say it!Did you kill them?”</p><p>“No,” Kylo denied.“<em>I buried them</em>.”</p><p>Rey stared at him, uncomprehending.</p><p>“Snoke made his orders clear,” said Kylo.“Find anyone who could destroy him.It didn’t take us long to hear about you.”</p><p> </p><p><em>Rain pours down.</em>  <em>A red lightsaber plunges through a man’s chest.He falls, dozens of others littering the ground around him.The Knights of Ren stand in their midst, weapons at the ready.Kylo breaks ranks and advances.</em></p><p> </p><p>“They hid you well.When we caught up to them, they were on a wet, miserable backwater world.They had taken shelter among a group of colonists foolish enough to fight to protect them.It was hard work getting at them.Nevertheless, we found them eventually.But they wouldn’t say where you were.So Snoke gave the order.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Rey’s parents kneel aboard the Knights’ ship.Solonny Ren unsheathes a barbed, curving knife and plunges it into Rey’s father’s chest.Her mother screams, then watches in silent fear as Hattaska Ren lifts his club.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“After the Knights had done their work, I took your parents’ bodies back to Jakku and laid them to rest in a shallow grave.”</p><p>“I don’t believe you,” Rey hissed.</p><p>Kylo took something out of his robe.“Perhaps this will help convince you,” he said, holding it out.</p><p>Rey looked at the object in his hand.It seemed to be a small piece of wood.Rey warily stepped forward.Holding her lightsaber at the ready, she grabbed the object and then backed away quickly.</p><p>Rey examined the trinket.It was a carefully carved model of a round spaceship with a distinctive gap in the front: the <em>Millennium Falcon</em>.She looked up at Kylo, her eyes wide.</p><p>“I told Snoke that with your parents dead, we were unable to find you.But I knew you had never left Jakku.I always knew where you were.”</p><p>“How?”</p><p>“Come find me,” Kylo Ren said, “and I’ll tell you.”Then he vanished.</p><p> </p><p>Rey’s friends found her sitting in the midst of torn, inexplicably fruit-covered ground.She was cradling something to her chest and sobbing quietly.</p><p>Finn rushed to her, kneeling by her side.“Rey, are you all right?”</p><p>“Talk to me, Rey,” Poe said on her other side.</p><p>“What happened here?” wondered Rose, examining a piece of red fruit.“I don’t recognize this stuff.”</p><p>Finn shot her a look.</p><p>Rose whispered sulkily, “It was a valid question.”But she knelt next to Rey anyway.</p><p>Rey recovered enough to croak, “I’ll be fine.”She picked herself up off the ground and headed back to the camp.</p><p>Poe and Finn glanced at each other uneasily before following her.“I’ll take next watch,” Poe said, loud enough to reach Rey’s ears.</p><p>Rey seemed not to notice.She crawled into her bedroll and sank into blessedly dreamless darkness.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Dark Lord's Return</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h2>Chapter Nine</h2><h2>Dark Lord’s Return</h2><p>Deep in the interior of the First Order Capitol, a door slid open.Armitage Hux stepped through it into a dark, cavernous chamber which had been set aside as a throne room.Kylo Ren had never used the space, however, preferring to spend his time fighting on the front lines of the war or scouring the galaxy for Sith arcana.And so the great hall, with its black walls, black floor, high black ceiling, and ponderous black throne had lain almost abandoned for more than a year, entered only by cleaning droids and the very lowliest of technicians. . . until its new occupant had arrived.</p><p>Nobody that Hux had questioned since returning to the Capitol had been willing to say exactly when the room's new tenant had taken residence, or from whence he had come.Nevertheless, the word had spread among the Capitol’s personnel, whispered in hushed tones between officers, muttered by stormtroopers on boring guard duty: the being in the throne room was to be obeyed without question.</p><p>By the light shining through the doorway behind him, Hux could make out the six fully armed and armored Knights of Ren standing near the far end of the room.On the great throne behind them, an indistinct shape sat swathed in shadows.</p><p>A rough voice spoke from the gloom.“We would be honored if you would join us. . . <em>Chancellor</em> Hux,” it said, drawing out the title mockingly.</p><p>Hux slowly walked forward into the murky chamber.His footfalls sounded uncomfortably loud against the hard floor.</p><p>“Come,” the voice said, addressing the Knights of Ren.“Make room for our guest.”</p><p>The Knights parted into two columns on either side of the throne, making an aisle for Hux to walk down.<em>Or a gauntlet to run</em>, he thought.Warily, he passed between the Knights, halting before the throne.Hux caught a glimpse of a pallid, claw-like hand as he knelt.</p><p>“Supreme Leader,” Hux said.“You have returned.”</p><p>“You are surprised,” the thing on the throne noted, motioning for Hux to stand.It leaned forward out of the shadows, revealing the scarred, shriveled face of Supreme Leader Snoke.</p><p>“You were. . . not in one piece, when last I saw you,” Hux replied, rising to his feet.</p><p>“Reports of my death have been greatly distorted.Kylo Ren told you the girl killed me, did he not?” the Supreme Leader asked.He raised his hand to forestall Hux’s response.“Ah, I see it is so.In truth, Kylo Ren sought to kill me, in order to usurp control of the First Order.”</p><p>“He’s a traitor, then,” said Hux, carefully modulating his voice so as not to betray the triumph he felt welling up inside.</p><p>“Indeed,” Snoke agreed.“As such, he is no longer fit to lead the Knights of Ren.They shall take orders directly from me.Provided, of course, that they find this arrangement. . . agreeable?”</p><p>A tense silence descended upon the room.The blaster pistol on Hux’s left hip, normally a comforting weight, now seemed wholly inadequate for his defence.His hand crept surreptitiously towards the weapon.</p><p>To Hux’s left, Solonny Ren fell to one knee before the throne.“Thus it shall be,” she said.</p><p>Hux relaxed slightly.</p><p>Hattaska Ren hesitated a moment before also genuflecting.The other Knights joined him on the floor.“Thus it shall be!” they chanted.</p><p>“Good.Then I shall charge you with your new missions.Solonny, Ott, and Lorl Ren: you shall remain with me at the Capitol.Hattaska, Jaedec and Kuruk: you shall continue your hunt for the last Jedi.When you find the girl, kill her.”Snoke waved his hand.“Knights, go forth upon thy quest.”</p><p>Hattaska led two of the other Knights from the room.</p><p>“What of Kylo Ren?” Hux asked.“He is dangerous.If he tries to seize power once more—”</p><p>“Leave that to me,” Snoke interjected.“Kylo Ren will come to us, in time.What boots it, expending our resources to find that which will return of its own volition?”</p><p>The Supreme Leader rose from his throne and stepped forward, the train of a long, shimmering black robe trailing after him.“My long-laid plans are close to fruition; they must not be tampered with.Yet the forces of the Resistance are gathering.Soon they will strike a decisive blow.I suggest you make preparations, Chancellor Hux, for the final battle comes swiftly, and cannot be halted.”</p><p>“Yes, Supreme Leader.”</p><p>“I wish to make an address to the galaxy,” Snoke stated, heading for the door to the throne room.Hux and the remaining Knights fell in line behind him.</p><p>“Let the word go forth, to every system and every world, that Snoke the eternal, ruler of all, has returned to his rightful place.”</p><p>Hux inclined his head.“It shall be arranged, Supreme Leader.”</p><p> </p><p>Sparks flew as mechanics repaired the cruiser <em>Tantive IV </em>in the hangar of the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss.Snap Wexley walked past the ship towards General Leia Organa, a worried look on his face.</p><p>“General,” Snap said.“We just picked up the news-disc from a messenger probe.It carried reports of a First Order raid at the Festival of Ancestors on Bonadan.”</p><p>“This mission is everything.We can <em>not</em> fail,” averred Leia.“Any word from Rey?”</p><p>“<em>Falcon</em>’s still not back,” Snap responded grimly.</p><p>Colonel Connix, standing next to Leia, asked, “Do you have to say it like that?”</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>“Do me a personal favor,” Leia recommended, “be optimistic.”</p><p>“Yes, ma’am,” assented Snap, nodding.“This is—this is terrific.You’re not gonna believe how well this is gonna turn out.It’s gonna be great.”</p><p>Connix sighed and walked away, shaking her head.Leia just cast her gaze downwards, disheartened.</p><p> </p><p>Aboard the <em>Knife 10</em>, Hattaska Ren floated in the liquid of an electro-oxygen meditation chamber, his head bowed in an induced sleep.Wires protruded from his mask and fed into a large computer.</p><p>Kuruk Ren looked on impassively as Jaedec approached the chamber.“What do you see, brother?” Jaedec asked, pressing his hand to the cool glass surface of the cylindrical chamber.</p><p>Hattaska stirred.Suddenly, he lifted his hand and pressed it against the glass opposite Jaedec’s.</p><p>Jaedec’s head tilted back.He nodded, removing his hand from the side of the chamber.</p><p>“Set a course for Wavett,” Jaedec said to Kuruk.</p><p>The <em>Knife 10</em> shifted course and set out upon its maiden voyage.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Updates are liable to be either sparse or non-existent for the next few months.</p>
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